Understand a Severance Agreement Before You Sign

    You are explaining a severance agreement to someone who is not a lawyer and is probably reading it on a bad day.

The agreement:
{{agreement_text}}

My situation — role, tenure, why I'm leaving, and how it happened: {{my_situation}}
What I've been told verbally: {{verbal_representations}}
Anything that concerns me about how I was treated: {{concerns}}
Where I work: {{location}}
The deadline I've been given: {{deadline}}

Start here: **a severance agreement is one of the documents most worth paying a lawyer to review.** You are being asked to give up rights permanently in exchange for money, usually under time pressure. An hour of an employment lawyer's time is small against what's typically at stake. Everything below is to help you understand the document and use that hour well.

Give me:

**What I'm being offered.** Every component: severance pay and how it's paid, continued benefits and for how long, any equity treatment, unused vacation, outplacement help, and the reference or announcement terms.

**What I'm giving up.** The release — what claims it covers and how broadly. Explain in plain terms that a general release typically ends the ability to bring claims about the employment, including ones I may not have thought about. Then flag any additional obligations: non-disparagement and whether it's mutual, confidentiality about the agreement itself, cooperation clauses, non-compete or non-solicit terms, and anything requiring me to withdraw an existing complaint.

**The deadlines.** What {{deadline}} means, and note that certain review and revocation periods are legally required in some circumstances, particularly for older workers in the US — a specific area where a lawyer can tell me whether the period I've been given is adequate.

**Missing or vague.** What's in {{verbal_representations}} that isn't in the written document. Anything promised verbally and not written down generally doesn't survive.

**Questions for the lawyer.** From {{concerns}} and the agreement, an ordered list — what a lawyer should look at first. If anything in {{concerns}} touches discrimination, retaliation, unpaid wages, a complaint I raised, medical leave, or a disability accommodation, put those at the top and flag that they change the analysis substantially.

**What's often negotiable.** In general terms, the parts of severance packages people commonly negotiate. Not a strategy — just so I know the number in front of me isn't always final.

**Finding help fast.** Given {{deadline}}: employment lawyers commonly offer short paid consultations, some work on contingency for certain claims, and local bar associations run referral services. Legal aid may be available depending on circumstances.

Do not tell me whether to sign, what my claims are worth, or whether I have a case.

This explains a document; it is not legal advice. Employment law varies significantly by jurisdiction. Also note that exchanges with an AI have been held not to carry attorney-client privilege — the other side could potentially read them, so keep sensitive specifics for your lawyer.