"When an employer is forced to reduce their force, whether it be due to budget cuts, or other reasons, they often try to soften the blow with severance pay.Severance pay is not the vacation you have saved up, legally they have to pay for your vacation days, and if your specific employer included in the hiring contract, they might legally have to pay you for your sick days or other paid time off
. accumulated.Severance pay is different, it is a bonus on top of what is already coming to you. Standard severance packages include 2 weeks of pay, unless you have been with the company for many years. Often times employers will opt to offer 1 week of pay for each year that an employee was committed to the employer. So if you work for an employer for 5 years, you would receive 5 weeks of severance pay. Severance pay is a bonus and is not required by law. The employer is trying to have you leave on good terms, and hope that the number of weeks of severance pay is long enough to find new employment. Leaving on good terms, allows the employer the opportunity to offer the job back should such an event arise.In most states, unemployment can not be paid until the first week after the severance pay expired."
