Q: Was told I had 3 days to sign severance agreement but it says 21 days on the agreement. I'm 40+. Signed under duress
This happened on a Thursday. I signed the agreement that Friday because they told me 3 days and 3 days would have been a Sunday. This was not enough time to seek legal cousel. After reading the agreement several times and doing research I found I had 21 days per the agreement because of age protection for being over 40. I would like to revoke this agreement because I feel I signed under duress. After thoroughly reading and researching I found by signing I give up my right to sue and I don't want that. I have been discriminated against at that company and feel I was fired after bringing claims of discrimination based on protected Title VII and the Equal Pay Act.
A:
It would be wise for you to immediately get in to see an experienced employment law attorney to discuss your situation. Before you undo the severance agreement, you need to know if you have real, valuable and enforceable legal claims against the former employer.
Then you need to determine if you can set the entire severance agreement aside or not. Many factors will go into that analysis. It is generally not enough to simply say you were under duress to get out of an agreement. The duress that has to exist to allow someone to avoid a contract is more of a gun to the head kind of situation. It cannot simply be being placed under time pressures of three days to decide. Far more than that would be required to allow you to set aside the entire agreement based on duress. Your specific situation would need to be assessed to know if you have anything close to the legal duress required to set aside the whole severance agreement.
You are correct that under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act there is a provision that requires employers who seek to have their 40+ year old employees to release liability under that act provides those employees with at least 21 days to consider the agreement, and after the agreement is signed, 7 days to rescind the agreement. If you are still within the 7 day period, you can still do so. The problem is that a violation of this provision will only allow you to avoid the ADEA claims that were otherwise going to be released, not all of the other claims you may wish to make.
It would be critical for you to locate and consult with an experienced employment law attorney as soon as possible to explore your facts and determine your options. I would suggest you look either on this site, or go to www.cela.org, the home page for the California Employment Lawyers Association, an organization whose members are dedicated to the representation of employees against their employers.
Most employment attorneys who practice this area of law work offer a free or low cost consultation in the beginning and then, if the matter has merit and value, will usually agree to work on a contingency basis, meaning you can hire an attorney without paying any money until the matter results in a positive outcome for you. Many advance all the costs of the litigation as well. Do not let fear of fees and costs keep you from finding a good attorney.
Good luck to you.
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