Denied severance.

[eerelations]

Since company policies and benefits manuals seldom if ever rise to the level of contracts, companies are generally not legally required to abide by these policies. As a result, your former employer didn't need to make up phony performance problems in order to avoid paying you severance.

 

[wavehopper27]

It's moot at this point.

 

[ESteele]

OP, you should consult directly with local counsel and/or speak with a representative of the MA Department of Labor to explore whether you can file a wage collection claim for the severance pay.

In other states, such deferred compensation would be considered wages which the employer would have a statutory obligation to pay following the cessation of your employment. A knowledgeable agency representative and/or local counsel should be able to advise you whether the severance pay set forth in company documentation would constitute such collectable wages under MA law.

 

[mlane58]

OP, you should consult directly with local counsel and/or speak with a representative of the MA Department of Labor to explore whether you can file a wage collection claim for the severance pay.

In other states, such deferred compensation would be considered wages which the employer would have a statutory obligation to pay following the cessation of your employment. A knowledgeable agency representative and/or local counsel should be able to advise you whether the severance pay set forth in company documentation would constitute such collectable wages under MA law.

Would you mind citing which states you are referring to and the statutes that states the employer is obligated to pay a severance?

 

[ESteele]

Let me clear: I did not state any state statute “obligates” an employer to pay severance payments per se. As stated above, if severance is or has been provided to other employees on a discretionary basis, a worker denied severance cannot compel his former employer to pay him such pay legal action.

HOWEVER, under the wage collection statutes (e.g., New York, Maryland, District of Columbia) I have encountered over the years, the salient question turns on whether the severance pay, commissions and/or other forms of deferred remuneration constituted “wages” under the law. Normally, an employee’s right to such compensation vests when the employee does everything required to earn the wages.

IMHO, if the OP here unqualifiedly accrued a week’s worth severance pay for every year he worked for his former employer pursuant to its written policies, then this company would remain obligated to pay him the severance pay just as it would remain obligated to tender his final regular pay check to him under the state’s wage collection law. Consequently, it would appear that the OP has a viable wage collection claim for said severance pay which he should pursue.

 

[cbg]

if the OP here unqualifiedly accrued a week’s worth severance pay for every year he worked for his former employer pursuant to its written policies, then this company would remain obligated to pay him the severance pay just as it would remain obligated to tender his final regular pay check to him under the state’s wage collection law. Consequently, it would appear that the OP has a viable wage collection claim for said severance pay which he should pursue.

Where does the OP state what the policy says, or even that it is unqualifiedly promised?

 

[mlane58]

Let me clear: I did not state any state statute “obligates” an employer to pay severance payments per se.

You most certainly did and let me quote you here

In other states, such deferred compensation would be considered wages which the employer would have a statutory obligation to pay following the cessation of your employment.

Saying there is a statutory obligation does say there is a state statute that obligates. So now answer my question. What states have statutes that obligate the employer to pay out a severance?

 

[cbg]

I have actually studied this.

There are three states in which UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES there is a statutory right to severance. One of them is MA. (MA is my state, as mlane knows.) However, the extremely limited circumstances under which severance is unqualifiedly owed in MA do not exist in this scenario - not even close. RI is NOT one of the three.

It therefore comes down to contract or binding policy. The poster has stated that there is a company policy regarding severance. He has NOT stated what that policy is or that it is owed unqualifiedly. He has been told right from the first that IF the policy is written in such a way that he is entitled to severance when he is let go for poor performance, that he has legal recourse. His question, however, was whether or not being let go for what he characterized as "untrue" reasons creates a legal obligation on the part of the employer to pay severance. It does not.

 

[ESteele]

Mlane, you evidently misunderstood what I originally posted here. Or worse, you inexplicably decided to deliberately misconstrue what I wrote.

The key word in the above-mentioned post is “deferred.” If the severance at issue here is indeed deferred compensation, then it would be considered wages under most, if not all, state wage collection statutes. You can certainly check the case law for the states mentioned above.

What I did not say was that all forms of severance constitute wages in connection with wage collection statutes.