Negotiating severance pay.Few professionals today will spend their entire career at one company. Downsizings, reorganizations, mergers, and acquisitions will force many out of a job, maybe even two or three. And although many companies provide severance pay Severance Pay Compensation that an employer gives to someone who is about to lose their job. Notes: Severance pay is not always paid to employees. It depends on the situation in which the employee is losing their job and whether legislation requires severance to be paid. , a 2005 Lee Hecht Hecht , Ben 1894-1964. American writer of short stories, novels, such as Erik Dorn (1921), dramas, including The Front Page (1928), written with Charles MacArthur (1895-1956), and screenplays, such as Gunga Din (1938). Harrison survey reported that minimum severance The act of dividing, or the state of being divided. The term severance has unique meanings in different branches of the law. Courts use the term in both civil and criminal litigation in two ways: first, when dividing a lawsuit into two or more parts, and second, when amounts have remained about the same at all levels of employment, while averages have fluctuated only slightly. "With workforce conditions as they are, professionals would be wise to negotiate their severance pay [even before they start working]," says Joset Wright, vice president and managing director of The Hollins Group, an executive search firm with offices in Chicago, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , and Atlanta. Wright offers the following tips: * Ask up front. The best time to negotiate severance is before accepting the job. Severance, like salary and benefits, should be decided at the time of hire and included in the job offer letter. * Ask for more. Typical severance is one to two weeks' salary for every year of service. Review what the employer offers and consider asking for additional compensation that could include accrued ac·crue v. ac·crued, ac·cru·ing, ac·crues v.intr. 1. To come to one as a gain, addition, or increment: interest accruing in my savings account. 2. vacation pay, outplacement out·place·ment n. The process of facilitating a terminated employee's search for a new job by provision of professional services, such as counseling, paid for by the former employer. counseling, extended health and life benefits, or the opportunity to buy employee-discounted stock options. * Ask again before you accept. Even after receiving a pink slip and a severance offer, employees have one last chance to negotiate a package that will help compensate them for their income loss. Federal law gives affected employees 21 days to consider the offer before signing it, and after signing it, seven days to change their mind. Wright suggests, "[That] would be a good time to ask for all you can."--Marcia A. Reed-Woodard |
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