Ohio Severance Agreements: What to Check and Negotiate

When an employer offers a severance package, most employees assume the number on the page is the number they will receive. It is not. Severance agreements are contracts, and the first number an employer puts on the page is an opening position rather than a fixed one. Understanding what is in a severance agreement, what you are giving up by signing it, and where there is room to negotiate can mean the difference between leaving on your employer's terms and leaving on your own.

What a Severance Agreement Is

A severance agreement is a contract between you and your employer. In exchange for severance pay and other benefits, you agree to release your employer from legal claims. The release is the most significant part of the agreement from the employer's perspective, and understanding what you are releasing is the most important thing you can do before signing.

A standard severance agreement releases the employer from all claims you have or might have arising from your employment, including discrimination claims, retaliation claims, wage and hour claims, and wrongful termination claims. Once you sign and the revocation period passes, those claims are gone. You cannot later decide that the amount was not enough and pursue legal action.

You Are Not Required to Sign

Employers present severance agreements as standard paperwork, and many employees feel pressure to sign quickly. You are not required to sign. You are not required to sign within the employer's suggested timeframe in most cases. And you are not required to accept the first offer.

For employees 40 and older, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requires that you be given at least 21 days to consider the agreement and at least 7 days to revoke it after signing. These are legal minimums that your employer cannot waive. If you are over 40 and your employer is pressuring you to sign within a day or two, that pressure is improper and worth noting.

What to Look For Before Signing

Before considering whether to negotiate, understand exactly what you are signing. Key provisions to review carefully include:

The release of claims

What specific claims are you releasing? A well-drafted release covers everything. But some releases attempt to include claims that cannot be waived, such as the right to file a charge with the EEOC. Knowing what you are and are not giving up matters.

Non-disparagement clause

Many severance agreements prohibit you from saying anything negative about the employer, its products, or its employees. These clauses can be broad and can restrict what you say to future employers, on social media, or in professional settings. Check whether the clause is mutual, meaning whether the employer is equally prohibited from disparaging you.

Non-compete and non-solicitation clauses

Some severance agreements include or reinforce non-compete or non-solicitation obligations. In Ohio, non-competes must be reasonable in scope, duration, and geographic reach to be enforceable. A severance agreement is not an opportunity for an employer to impose new restrictive covenants that were not in your original employment agreement without additional consideration.

Cooperation clause

Many agreements require you to cooperate with the employer in future litigation or investigations. Understand what this requires and whether it is limited to matters arising from your employment or broader.

Confidentiality

Nearly every severance agreement requires you to keep the terms confidential. Know what you can and cannot say about the agreement and to whom.

What Is Negotiable

The short answer is: more than you think. Here is where employees most commonly have room to push:

The amount

The severance amount is almost always negotiable. The baseline negotiating position is that the employer is asking you to release legal claims that have real value. If you have a strong discrimination or retaliation claim, the value of those claims is leverage. Even if you do not have an obvious legal claim, the employer wants a clean separation and that is worth something.

Continuation of benefits

Health insurance continuation, vesting of stock or retirement benefits, and outplacement services are all negotiable. Employers sometimes extend COBRA coverage or continue benefits for a defined period as part of a negotiated severance package.

The non-disparagement clause

Push for mutuality. If you cannot say negative things about the employer, the employer should not be able to say negative things about you. This matters for references and future employment.

Reference language

A severance agreement is an opportunity to nail down what your employer will say when future employers call. A specific agreed reference letter or a confirmed neutral reference policy is worth including.

The scope of the release

In some cases there are claims you may want to preserve. Workers' compensation claims, vested pension benefits, and EEOC charge rights generally cannot be waived. But there may be other claims worth discussing with an attorney before agreeing to a broad release.

Is the Severance Amount Fair?

Ohio does not require an employer to offer severance at all, and there is no statutory formula for what an offer should be. What makes a number reasonable is specific to the situation, and the usual inputs are tenure, salary, the circumstances of the termination, what the employer's own policy or past practice has been, and whether there are viable legal claims sitting underneath the separation.

That last input is the one that moves the number most. If you were terminated under circumstances that could support a claim, such as discrimination, retaliation, or a breach of an employment contract, the offer is not really a severance calculation at all. It is a price the employer has set for closing the matter, and it may be set well below what the claims are worth. Working out what those claims might be worth is the step that belongs before you evaluate the number, not after.

When You Should Not Sign

Some situations call for review or negotiation before any signature, because the release is likely to cost more than the payment is worth. Those include:

• You believe the termination was because of race, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, or another protected characteristic
• You were let go shortly after taking FMLA leave, filing a workers' compensation claim, requesting an accommodation, or reporting misconduct
• You have an employment contract or a plan document that entitles you to more than what is being offered
• The agreement contains a non-compete or non-solicitation clause that would restrict your ability to find comparable work, or reaffirms one you signed years ago
• You are being asked to waive claims you have not had time to evaluate, or the deadline you were given is shorter than what the law requires

In any of these, the signature is the point of no return, and what is on the other side of it is usually worth understanding first.

When Legal Claims Increase Your Leverage

If your separation involved conduct that gives rise to a legal claim, your leverage in severance negotiations is significantly greater. An employer offering severance after a discriminatory termination, a retaliation-driven layoff, or a hostile work environment situation is paying to extinguish claims that could be worth substantially more than the offered amount.

This is the most important reason to consult an employment attorney before signing a severance agreement. An attorney can evaluate whether you have viable legal claims, what those claims might be worth, and whether the severance offer reflects the value of what you are giving up. That assessment is what a negotiation is built on.

The Bottom Line

A severance agreement is a legal contract that permanently extinguishes the claims it covers. It deserves careful review, and in most situations it is worth attempting to negotiate the terms. The employer wants your signature. That gives you more leverage than you probably realize. An employment attorney can help you understand what you are giving up, evaluate whether you have legal claims that increase your leverage, and negotiate a better outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are severance agreements negotiable in Ohio?

A severance agreement is a contract, so its terms can be negotiated like any other. Ohio does not require an employer to offer severance, and it does not require an employer to improve an offer, but nothing prevents you from asking. What you have to work with is the value of the claims the employer is paying to release.

Can a severance agreement stop me from filing an EEOC charge?

No. A valid release can waive your ability to recover money on the claims it covers, but it cannot bar you from filing a charge with the EEOC or from participating in an agency investigation. An agreement that purports to prohibit filing a charge has a defect worth raising. Well-drafted agreements carve that right out expressly.

How long do I have to decide on a severance agreement?

It depends on the agreement and on your age. An employee 40 or older who is being asked to release age claims must be given at least 21 days to consider an individual agreement, or 45 days where the offer is part of a group termination program, plus at least seven days after signing to revoke. Below 40 there is no statutory minimum, so the deadline in the agreement is the deadline.

What should I look for before signing a severance agreement?

The scope of the release, any non-compete or non-solicitation clause including one the agreement reaffirms from an earlier document, non-disparagement and confidentiality terms and whether they run both ways, what happens to benefits, bonuses, and unvested equity, any cooperation obligation and whether it has an end date, and the reference language the employer will give.

Should I sign a severance agreement without a lawyer?

That depends on what is being released. Where the separation looks routine and the terms are narrow, many people sign without counsel. Where there are potential discrimination, retaliation, leave, or contract claims, or where restrictive covenants are involved, the release is extinguishing something with independent value and it is worth knowing what that is first.