Negotiate a severance agreement before you sign the release

This step produces a one-page note naming every law that governs your packet and what each one requires. Two facts decide which federal rules apply: your age, and whether the offer is individual or part of a group exit incentive program.

1. Confirm your age — the waiver rules of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (29 U.S.C. § 626(f)) apply only if you are 40 or older on the day you receive the packet.
2. Decide individual versus group: if the offer is an exit incentive program aimed at a group or class — typically a reduction in force touching two or more employees in your unit — the OWBPA applies.
3. For a group program the employer must allow 45 days to review and disclose in writing the eligible class, job titles, and ages of everyone selected and not selected.
4. For an individual offer the minimum review period is 21 days.
5. Look up your state's final-paycheck deadline on your state labor department's website — some states require payment on the last day worked, others by the next regular payday.
6. Check whether your state requires payout of accrued, unused vacation or PTO at termination.
7. Write the one-page note: statute name, whether it applies, what it requires, and the number of days it gives you.