I am 60 years old and my job of many years decided to cut my position and give it to a few people all of who are younger then me. At the same time another guy in his 60s was let go. I was offered a small severance package, but at my age who will hire me. I'm afraid to fight this, as I need the small amount of money they are offering. What should I do?
As one who has reviewed and handled countless such situations, I can tell you most employment counsel will review your situation and might only take your case on a percentage basis, so you only would owe based on what would be recovered. In light of your facts, such an approach would be recommended. Let me know if there's anything else I can answer for you.
Loss of a long-term job is considered one of the top three stressors an adult will encounter. Keeping this in mind, there are a number of considerations in negotiating and evaluating the appropriateness of a severance agreement:
Value of Legal Claims You Are Releasing
Rate of Pay
Length of Service
Level of Responsibility
Health, Life and Disability Benefits
Profit Sharing
Bonus Money
Outplacement Service
Letter of Recommendation
Positive Job References
Time Needed to Secure a Comparable Job
It is not uncommon for an employee to receive severance pay equal to one to two weeks pay for every year of service when the employee has no legal claims against the employer. Every severance package will require you to release your employer from liability in exchange for the compensation. The full value of your legal claims may be greater than one to two weeks pay per year of service. Accordingly, your legal claims against your former employer must be taken into account before entering a severance agreement. For example, in a reduction in force case, such as yours, a key factor is whether the job duties are being taken over by significantly younger employees.
It is also important to consider the length of time you will need to secure a comparable job. You should anticipate your job search to last 1 month for every $10,000.00 in salary you are seeking, as a standard rule in the placement industry. This rule of thumb is affected by current economic conditions and your willingness to relocate.
Finally, federal law requires that any employee over 40 years of age have no less than 21 days to consider a severance offer and 7 days after signing the agreement to revoke acceptance.
Under federal law, the separation agreement must contain information on the ages of all of the released employees. You should take that agreement and any attachments to an employment attorney who can advise you. You may be entitled to a greater amount.
