If your job recently ended and the employer offered you a severance agreement you’re considering, before you respond– i.e. before you submit the signed agreement to the employer, or try to negotiate with the employer, etc.– please avoid making the number one mistake. And that number one mistake is this: failing to have a free phone call/consult with an employee rights lawyer. Yes, I know this advice is self-interested, as I am an employee rights lawyer who wants employees to call me about severance agreements they were just presented. But, here’s the thing: you don’t have to call me. It’s … Continue reading Offered a Severance Agreement and About to Respond? Avoid the Number One Mistake.

If you want to know the right answer, and why it’s right, email me and I’ll tell you. (There’s no charge). Continue reading Poll: How Much Should a Severance Pay?

Say your employer told you that your employment is going to end, and you have the “choice” to resign rather than be fired. (Many employers do this in conjunction with presenting a severance agreement that has a “resignation notice” as an exhibit the employee can sign and submit). Understandably, if your employer puts you in this situation, you may view your impending decision in the terms the employer presented: “Should I resign or not?” This is actually not the question you should decide. At least not at first. There are more important factors to consider before giving the employer an answer … Continue reading To Resign or Not Resign? That Is NOT the Question. Consider These Factors First…

Many employees who are discharged or offered a severance will, understandably, research internet information about what options they may have.  For example, it is common for a discharged employee to research internet information about legal complaints, such as discrimination or wage complaints. For workers offered a severance agreement, it is common for them to research internet information about what a “typical” or fair severance payment may be, what leverage may exist to negotiate better terms with the employer, etc. Many workers then rely on such internet research to take various actions, e.g. they go on to file a discrimination complaint, … Continue reading Discharged or Offered a Severance? Don’t Drive Down a New Road Before Ensuring it’s the Right Direction

An H-1B worker represented by the attorney-author and his co-counsel was awarded $223,884.27 in unpaid wages, in the decision and order below, by the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Our client is a surgeon who formerly worked as an H-1B employee for the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU School of Medicine), in the job position of Assistant Professor in the Department and Division of General Surgery. OALJ’s order found that SIU SM underpaid the H-1B worker, and failed to pay her the required actual wage, as compared to wages that … Continue reading Successful DOL Decision for H-1B Worker/Surgeon With Complaint Against Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

If your employment has been terminated and you have been offered a severance agreement, many areas of law could potentially be involved with your situation.  An employee rights attorney who reviews a severance situation will have a mental checklist of such laws to consider. Those laws generally include: (1) contract law; (2) laws that make certain job-terminations unlawful, e.g. various Federal and State discrimination laws, whistleblower-retaliation laws, “wrongful discharge” laws, etc.; (3) wage laws that govern severance pay or payment of residual unpaid wages from employment such as commissions, bonuses, overtime, deferred compensation, etc.; (4) laws that govern employer-provided benefits such as health insurance … Continue reading Areas of Law That Could Relate to a Severance and/or Job Termination