Benefits of negotiating your severance package

Old adages are old adages for a reason: They have credibility. Howard Levitt shared his perspective this week in the Financial Post that newly terminated employees should not try to negotiate a termination package without the intervention of legal counsel because it is not an employee’s skill set. He indicates that terminated employees should leave the negotiations to experienced legal counsel. Mr. Levitt sets out very valid reasons supporting this old adage — that the support of an employment lawyer maximizes the return on an employee’s termination package.

There is another old adage: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. In that regard, an employee should also consider another perspective — the long game. The long game has the goal of ending the employment relationship in a constructive manner, even in the face of an ego-crushing termination.

There are many reasons for a terminated employee to look beyond the termination of the employment itself: Networking. References. Referrals. Maybe even a future return if the circumstances of the employer change. While this approach will not apply to every terminated employee, it frequently makes sense to leave out the demand for an uptick in the termination package sent on a lawyer’s letterhead and to attempt the negotiations themselves.

Employees should use legal counsel to inform themselves of their rights and obligations (yes, terminated employees have obligations), and allow legal counsel to advise on strategies to advocate for themselves to secure an enhancement to their termination package. Legal counsel will always provide this benefit. But if the negotiations can be business-like and even amicable, this may bolster the employee’s long game.

There is no need to threaten the employer with lawyer intervention or to let the employer know that the lawyer is on speed dial in the background for the ongoing negotiations. The employee always has the option of front-facing the lawyer at any point, and I do not believe it boxes in the employer with respect to its offer.

There is real value in ending the relationship with the employer in a business-like and amicable manner — possibly even with an expression of gratitude for one or two positives the employee has taken from the work relationship. This long-game approach can result in the employee avoiding burning their bridges — another great old adage.

Lorraine Por is an Employment Lawyer at Harrison Pensa LLP in London, Ontario, specializing in workplace employment and human rights issues.

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