When an employee is severed from the work place from a position of employment, there is no entitlement to severance. Typically, a notice will be given but a lot of times it’s not and there is no legal requirement that a notice needs to be given to an employee when they are being terminated. Particularly, in situations where terminations are for cause often times the employees are not given any notice and the termination becomes effective immediately. Depending on your situation you may have the ability to collect a severance pay, and this could be in the form of cashing out vacations that have been accrued, it could be in the form of an additional lump sum or payroll type, a payment going over the course of the next several weeks, months, whatever the employer agrees to and it could also include things like benefits. Benefits are important these days with the rising costs of health insurance and health care and often times employees who are terminated find themselves in positions where they cannot afford to continue with the health insurance even through the COBRA provisions, so often times if a severance package is offered, we try to include and lobby for a well rounded package for the employee so that things can be covered going forward and gives you a enough time to get back on your feet and figure out what your next steps are.
This informational blog post was provided by Kim Berg, an experienced White Plains Employment Lawyer.
