Practice area 3.5 · Employment
Employment
You were handed a package, a pen, and a deadline that feels designed to stop you thinking. Do not sign it yet. What you are owed when a job ends is often more than the first offer, and you have more room than the letter lets on.
1. This page is for you if
- 1.1
You were let go on a Friday and told the offer expires if you do not sign by Monday.
- 1.2
You are being nudged toward the door with hints, and you want your position clear before you react.
- 1.3
You run a business and you need to let someone go without it turning into a lawsuit.
- 1.4
You are drafting an employment contract and the non-compete clause you copied may not hold up.
2. What the work includes
Severance package review
A written opinion on whether the offer reflects what the law says you are owed, and what a reasonable counter would look like.
Wrongful dismissal claims
If the offer falls far short and they will not move, we advance the claim and keep the leverage on your side of the table.
Employer-side terminations
We help owners end an employment relationship the careful way, so a hard decision does not become an expensive one.
Contracts and workplace policies
Employment agreements, non-competes, and the handbook clauses that need to hold when they are finally tested.
3. What it costs
A written severance opinion is $900, a fixed fee, so you know what the advice costs before you ask for it. If a matter grows into a claim, that is billed by time at $295 an hour, and we tell you the moment the numbers stop being worth chasing. You decide with the figures in front of you.
4. What happens next
The anxiety is almost never the law. It is not knowing what happens next. So here is what happens next.
- 4.1
Send us the letter, do not sign it
Email the package the day you get it. A deadline on a severance offer is rarely as firm as it looks, and we would far rather you paused than signed something final in a panic.
- 4.2
We tell you what you are actually owed
A written opinion within a few days: what the offer contains, what the law suggests is reasonable, and the gap between the two in real dollars.
- 4.3
We open the conversation with your employer
If a counter is warranted, we make it in a measured letter that keeps the door open. Most of these resolve without anyone filing a thing.
- 4.4
We advance it only if it pays to
If they will not be reasonable and the gap is worth pursuing, we take the next step, and we tell you honestly when it is not worth your money.
5. Who does the work
We act for the person who lost the job and for the owner who had to end it, which means we know how the other side will read your letter before you send it.
6. Reading, before you spend a dollar
7. Questions people actually ask
- What does it cost to have my severance looked at?
- A written opinion is a flat $900, and for most people that single document pays for itself in a better offer or the calm of knowing the one on the table is fair. You are not signing up for an open-ended bill; the review is a fixed price you agree to before we start.
- How long do I really have before I have to sign?
- Less than you would like and more than the letter suggests. Employers often set a short deadline to discourage you from getting advice, but the offer usually cannot simply vanish the way it implies. Call us before the date on the page and we will tell you where you actually stand.
- Is it worth fighting, or should I just take the offer?
- Sometimes the offer is genuinely fair and the right advice is to sign it, and we will say so when that is the case. Other times it falls well short of reasonable notice. The only way to know is a proper review, and knowing turns a stressful guess into a decision you can stand behind.
Begin with a conversation
Ten minutes on the phone, no charge, and an honest answer about whether you need a lawyer at all.