Asking for an early retirement package

[Rianne]

DH was so frustrated and stressed out he basically said I'm done. They offered a position in a different department at Mega Corp, he said no way. He discovered after he intended to quit, company gave him 1 year paid severance plus HI. The pay was equal to his current salary and they paid him as if he were working, not in a lump sum.

 

[Jerry1]

. . . I do want a lawyer to review the paperwork in case I can enhance my severance package. . .

The leverage to enhance your severance package doesn’t reside in your package (your package = the written documents the provide). It resides on your ability to leverage friendships or parlay your skills and the current situation that your employer is in, to your best advantage.

Lol Jerry - I don’t disagree. However, if I am going to have the paperwork reviewed anyway then it might as well be by someone who knows this space.

While it never hurts to have legal documents reviewed, my only point is that it will not “enhance [your] severance package. It will only help ensure that the written terms are followed. Certainly if you don’t understand something and a legal review clarified the clause and that allowed you to be properly remunerated, that’s the objective of a legal review and that’s great.

To “enhance“ would be to go beyond that. That won’t happen from a legal review other than by chance that the legal person happens to share some bit of wisdom with you that you can use. I’d do the legal review, but I’d give a lot of thought to what other leverage points you have and what friendships you could leverage. Hoping the best for you.

 

[CountryGal]

OP - Congratulations and good luck with your retirement.

The way I was schooled for those of us not in management but in upper 50's, was this. Do not announce to HR or anyone of your intentions. If you trust your boss, indicate subtly in conversation that you would be open to walking if there was an opportunity to downsize in the future. Technically you can not ask and they can not hear you offer, in order to give you a package. It must be a "job elimination". Typically you are bound not to tell anyone about your package. Sometimes the boss doesn't even know if there is a package or if you are getting one. For us, there was rumor that they would be eliminating them at some point.

 

[brett]

I engaged a lawyer experienced in packages to negotiate my package. I had asked my contacts to recommend a good lawyer in this area. Fee based, not contingency.

My goal was to have the package enhanced and to have the T's & C's of the agreement reviewed. The lawyer had the package extended by six months, the basis of the package adjusted to include the cash value of all benefits, the sev. time (just under 24 months) credited to my DB service, and at the last moment had the value of his fee added to the settlement. Plus, an agreement as to how and when it would be paid in order to minimize my tax exposure. So for me, it was well worth engaging council.

I suspect that it very much depends upon the legislation in your geography and on past settlements. Plus the usual of age, position, etc. After that, I was entitled to 38 weeks of employment insurance.

 

[Brat]

An attorney can also review any restrictions on future employment, consulting, in your field of expertise. Now if you are in CA most of those restrictions have no effect but no harm in having the documents reviewed. Most large corporations give employees time for you review the docs and if they cover any release from age discrimination litigation most will pay for an hour or two of a lawyer's time.

It is all about the releases...

 

[brett]

Once the basic questions were out of the way the lawyer suggested two thing. The first was to register for unemployment insurance just in case I decided to FIRE. I did both.

The second was not discuss the ongoing discussions, my future plans, etc. with anyone-most particularly any former colleagues. And of course, don't talk to the employer.