There are times when an employee (or an employer) can legally break a severance agreement. Here are a few examples for when an employee might be able to do so:
- If it is not reasonable in its scope to waive an employee’s right to sue
- If it violates the law
- If it is not supported by some type of compensation besides what has already been earned
- If the employee did not understand that signing is voluntarily, and unknowingly gave up the right to have a reasonable amount of time to consider the agreement’s consequences and consult an attorney
Employment law is pretty complicated, particularly when job separation issues come into question. Only an experienced employment law attorney has the knowledge and training to evaluate when an employee can legally break a severance agreement, and the risk for doing this.
If you want to learn whether a specific severance agreement can be broken, please contact our office for a consultation.