Start with one number: severance weeks divided by years of service. The most common structure in written employer severance policies is one to two weeks of pay per year of service, usually with a floor of two to four weeks for short-tenured employees. Below one week per year is thin. Two or more is at the generous end for a standard layoff.
That ratio is the starting point, not the verdict. A below-benchmark offer can still be reasonable, and an above-benchmark offer can still be a poor deal if it is buying an unusually broad release or a noncompete you did not previously have.
Why “fair” has no fixed meaning here
In most private-sector employment in the United States, no law requires severance at all. The Department of Labor is direct about it: severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee, and the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require it. There is no statutory minimum to compare your offer against.
That leaves three real sources of obligation:
- A contract. An employment agreement, offer letter, or executive severance plan that promises a specific amount. This is the strongest position to be in, and it is worth re-reading the document before you assume you are negotiating from nothing.
- A written severance policy or plan. Many larger employers maintain one, sometimes governed by ERISA. If a policy exists and you fit its terms, the formula in it is a legitimate reference point.
- Notice law. The federal WARN Act can require 60 days of advance notice for qualifying mass layoffs and plant closings at employers with 100 or more employees, with pay in lieu of notice where notice was not given. Several states have their own versions with lower thresholds and longer periods. WARN pay is a separate obligation, so be careful about an offer that quietly counts it as severance.
Absent one of those, what you are handed is a discretionary offer. Fairness becomes a comparison to common practice rather than to a rule. That is the comparison this page, and the free assessment, are built to make.
The benchmark: weeks per year of service
Divide the number of weeks you were offered by your years of service. This single ratio strips out salary and tenure, which is why it lets you compare your offer to anyone else’s. When a colleague or a stranger online tells you they got twenty weeks, the number is meaningless until you know they had eighteen years in.
| Weeks per year of service | How it typically reads | Usual posture |
|---|---|---|
| Under 0.5 | Well below common practice, particularly at longer tenure | Worth questioning |
| 0.5 to 1 | At or just under the usual floor | Room to ask |
| 1 to 2 | The most common structure in written policies | Within normal range |
| 2 to 3 | Above the common baseline | Generally solid |
| Over 3 | Usually contractual, executive, or an enhanced package | Check what it is buying |
One important correction to the ratio: it behaves badly at very short tenure. Four weeks after eight months is a ratio of six, which does not mean the offer is extraordinary. It means most employers set a minimum floor, commonly two to four weeks, below which they do not go regardless of service. Treat the ratio as meaningful from roughly two years onward.
Work out your own ratio
The calculator converts weeks, months, or a lump sum into weekly pay, total package value, and your weeks per year of service, so you can see where you land before reading further.
Five things that change the answer
Two people can be offered identical ratios and be in completely different positions. These are the factors that move the assessment, and they are the same ones the free assessment weighs.
1. Tenure, and where the offer sits against it
Long service is the single most common reason an offer reads as thin. Employers applying a flat, uniform number across an entire layoff often produce results that are perfectly reasonable for the two-year employee and noticeably poor for the fifteen-year one. If you have been there a long time and were handed the same number as everyone else, you are usually the person with the strongest case for an exception.
2. Level and replaceability
Severance tends to scale with seniority, and not only in dollars. Directors and above are more often offered months rather than weeks, more often have contractual entitlements, and more often have equity and bonus questions that dwarf the cash. If you are at that level, see how much severance to expect by level. The practical point is that the higher the role, the more likely the number in front of you was set by a person rather than a spreadsheet, and the more likely it can be changed by another person.
3. Why the job ended
A no-fault layoff, a position elimination, or a restructuring is the strongest backdrop for a negotiation, because the employer is not asserting that you did anything wrong. A termination framed as performance-related is harder ground, though far from hopeless, especially when the performance narrative appeared suddenly after years of good reviews. A termination for cause is different again: severance offered in that setting is usually being offered to close something out, and the surrounding facts matter more than the benchmark.
4. Your record
Recent strong reviews, a promotion, a raise, or no documented discipline all strengthen the case that the separation was about the business rather than about you. The reverse also holds. A documented performance improvement plan or a series of written warnings genuinely does weaken a request for more, and an honest assessment has to say so rather than tell you what you want to hear.
5. What the agreement asks of you
This is the factor people most often ignore, and it is the one that most changes whether an offer is a good deal. Severance is a purchase. The employer is buying something, and the price should reflect what is being sold. A standard release of claims in exchange for a benchmark-range payment is an ordinary transaction. A broad release plus a new twelve-month noncompete you never previously had, plus a one-way non-disparagement clause, plus a cooperation obligation, in exchange for four weeks, is a very different one.
Not “is this number big?” but “is this number reasonable for what I am being asked to give up?” An offer that looks generous against the tenure benchmark can still be poor if it is buying an unusual amount of your future freedom.
The parts of the package people forget to count
The cash figure is the number the letter leads with. It is frequently not the largest component, and it is almost never the whole package. Before deciding whether an offer is fair, price the rest.
- Health coverage. COBRA continuation generally runs up to 18 months, and the premium is the full cost of the plan plus an administrative charge, which is a great deal more than the payroll deduction you are used to. Family coverage commonly exceeds $1,500 a month. Three months of employer-paid COBRA is real money and is one of the easier things to win in a negotiation.
- Accrued PTO. Whether unused vacation must be paid out on separation is a matter of state law and company policy, and states differ sharply. Some treat accrued vacation as earned wages that must be paid; others leave it to policy. A large unused balance can be worth more than several weeks of severance.
- Bonus. If you worked most of a performance year, a prorated bonus is a legitimate ask, and the agreement often says nothing about it either way. Silence is not the same as denial.
- Equity. For anyone with meaningful RSUs or options, this is usually the largest number on the page and the least discussed. Whether unvested shares are forfeited, whether vesting accelerates, and how long you have to exercise options after termination are governed by your grant agreements and the plan document, not by the severance letter.
- Reference and rehire terms. Hard to price and occasionally decisive for what happens next. Also among the cheapest things for an employer to agree to.
Get this judged against your actual situation
This page gives you the framework. The free assessment applies it: it takes your tenure, level, pay, the reason you were let go, your performance record, and the terms of the agreement, and tells you whether the offer looks weak, fair, or strong, what the package is really worth, and what is most likely worth asking for. About four minutes, no account needed to start.
Signs an offer is thinner than it looks
None of these are wrongdoing. They are simply the patterns that most often turn out to be worth a conversation.
- A flat number applied across the whole layoff, when you have well above-average tenure.
- No COBRA contribution at all, particularly where the employer previously covered most of the premium.
- Accrued PTO not mentioned, in a state or under a policy where it would ordinarily be paid.
- A bonus you have substantially earned that the agreement passes over in silence.
- A new or expanded noncompete or non-solicitation that did not exist in your original terms.
- A non-disparagement clause binding only you, with no reciprocal obligation on the employer.
- A signing deadline shorter than the consideration period the law provides for your situation.
- Severance that appears to be counting notice pay the employer already owed under WARN.
- Equity treatment left vague, or a post-termination exercise window measured in days.
Signs an offer is genuinely strong
- Two or more weeks per year of service in an ordinary layoff.
- A meaningful employer contribution to health coverage, typically three months or more.
- Accrued PTO paid out in full and stated explicitly.
- A prorated bonus addressed in writing rather than left to interpretation.
- Equity treated favourably: continued vesting, acceleration, or an extended exercise window.
- No new restrictive covenants beyond what you already agreed to.
- Mutual non-disparagement, and agreed neutral or positive reference language.
- Comfortable time to review, and an explicit revocation period.
Before you decide, know the clock you are on
If you are 40 or older and the agreement asks you to waive age discrimination claims, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act generally requires that you be given at least 21 days to consider it, extended to 45 days when the separation is part of a group program, plus 7 days after signing in which you may revoke. In a group program, you are also generally entitled to information about the job titles and ages of those selected and not selected, which is genuinely useful context and which many people never think to read.
An employer asking you to sign a waiver of age claims within 48 hours is not following the usual framework, and that alone is worth raising. More detail in should I sign my severance agreement?
Frequently asked questions
What is a fair severance package?
There is no legal standard, because severance usually is not legally required. In practice, one to two weeks of pay per year of service is the most common structure in written employer policies, typically with a floor of two to four weeks. An offer generally reads as fair when it sits in that range for your tenure, pays accrued PTO, contributes to health coverage, and does not ask for unusual concessions.
Is 2 weeks of severance fair?
It depends almost entirely on tenure. Two weeks after one or two years is within common practice. Two weeks after ten or fifteen years is well below the usual benchmark and is one of the clearest cases for asking. The same two weeks is a normal offer or a thin one depending only on how long you were there.
Can my employer refuse to negotiate?
Yes. Where severance is not contractually owed, an employer can decline to move, and in large standardized layoffs the terms are often uniform by design. Asking is still low risk in most situations. A professional, non-threatening counter is rarely met with withdrawal of the original offer, though it is not impossible, which is why tone matters. See how to negotiate a severance offer.
Does a large offer mean my employer did something wrong?
Not on its own. Employers pay above policy for many ordinary reasons: closing a matter quickly, protecting morale among the people who stay, securing cooperation during a handover, or a manager simply advocating for someone. A broad release is not a signal either. It appears in nearly every severance agreement as standard practice.
Will negotiating make them withdraw the offer?
It is uncommon, but it is a real risk rather than a myth, and it rises with the temperature of the request. The reliable way to keep it low is to accept the offer on its own terms as a starting point, ask professionally and specifically, avoid accusations and litigation threats, and never miss the deadline while waiting for a reply. If the amount at stake is large, that is the point at which paying an employment attorney to make the request usually pays for itself.
This is general information, not legal advice. Severance.help is not a law firm and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading this page. State law varies considerably, particularly on PTO payout, noncompete enforceability, and how severance interacts with unemployment benefits. If your situation involves possible discrimination or retaliation, unpaid wages, a noncompete you cannot work around, or a great deal of money, consult an employment attorney licensed in your state.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: severance pay is not required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and is a matter of agreement between employer and employee.
- U.S. Department of Labor: Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, covering employers of 100 or more employees and requiring 60 days of notice for qualifying plant closings and mass layoffs.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements, covering Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requirements including the 21-day and 45-day consideration periods and the 7-day revocation period.
- U.S. Department of Labor: COBRA continuation coverage, including the general 18-month continuation period and the ability of plans to charge up to 102 percent of the cost of coverage.
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15 (Circular E): treatment of severance as supplemental wages.