Paul Castronovo is a severance lawyer in New Jersey (NJ) and New York (NY) and a partner with Castronovo & McKinney, LLC. He practices in both New Jersey and New York. Paul regularly advises clients on their severance agreements and successfully negotiates better severance packages for them with increased severance pay and benefits as well as reducing or removing non-compete provisions. Paul’s experience negotiating and interpreting severance agreements will assist you in understanding your rights and responsibilities under the severance agreement and determining whether your situation may allow you to negotiate changes.
Your employer wrote the severance package to protect itself against lawsuits and competition. Paul recommends that all individuals who are offered a severance package hire a qualified attorney to review their severance agreements so they are aware of their obligations and to learn whether they have leverage to negotiate a better package. Please keep in mind that you will be giving up many rights by signing a severance agreement. You may also be agreeing not to compete with the company, which could prevent you from getting a new job for up to 2 years. All of these items can be negotiated to benefit you. You are free to ask questions regarding the agreement and see whether your employer will make changes. You can also try and negotiate your severance agreement to see if you are able to increase the amount of severance being offered by the company. We typically only suggest negotiations when you have some sort of leverage against the company. For example, you may have a possible lawsuit and you would be waiving your right to file a lawsuit by signing the severance agreement. We can utilize the potential lawsuit or claim to try and negotiate to increase the severance.
Please contact us if you would like to have your severance agreement reviewed or negotiated. Paul provides a free initial telephone consultation to discuss how the process works and explain whether you have leverage to negotiate a better package.