Q: Employer verbally and in email committed to terms if I voluntarily resigned then changed terms twice - is that legal?
Terms agreed to in March for final employment date early April - After final work date the employer changed the terms for a substantial loss. When I challenged that loss they countered with another severance on a Friday evening and said if I did not sign by 5p Saturday then I’d lose everything. I have all documents and a clear timeline. I signed severance under duress due to the threat that I wouldn’t be paid. $15k loss and still haven’t paid final expenses. Is the verbal and email agreement binding? Is it not illegal to bully someone into signing? Update - employer offer severance because I was the top performer but CEO had personal bias, company needs me to remain silent to current employees. Not a contracted employee. I attempted to speak with employment attorney but unless I am bringing them an EEOC case then it's not worth their time. The details are as crazy as it sounds - leave quietly and we will pay you X, j/k we are going to pay you less. I could have stayed - I was not fired
A: There must be some reason your employer was willing to offer severance, which makes many factors relevant. Is there some claim you are waiving? Do you have an employment contract? Are others being offered the same severance? There is not near enough detail to know your rights from the limited information in that question. I suggest you speak directly with an experienced employment law attorney. It's a very complicated area of the law.
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