hat that stack of paperwork really asks you to give up, and why it’s hard to take back.
Losing a job is one of the most stressful things that can happen. So, when your employer slides a severance agreement across the table, or emails a settlement offer after a dispute, the instinct is understandable. Sign it, take the check, and move on. A few weeks of pay feels like a lifeline when the ground has just dropped out from under you.
But here’s the hard truth. A severance or settlement agreement is a legal contract written by your employer’s lawyers to protect your employer. It is not a gift. It is a trade. And once you sign it, the deal is usually done for good.
What “Release and Waiver of Claims” Actually Means
Somewhere in that document, often buried under legalese, is a section called something like “Release of Claims” or “Waiver.” This is the heart of the agreement, but also the part people often skim right past.
In plain English, a waiver of claims means you are promising not to sue your employer for anything. Not just the thing you’re upset about right now, but everything, known or unknown, that happened up to the day you sign. There are a few exceptions, but so few they are virtually nonexistent.
A waiver of claims includes claims you may not even realize you have. They could be claims for unpaid wages, discrimination based on age, race, sex, disability, or pregnancy, retaliation for reporting something illegal, harassment, or a whistleblower claim. Many releases are written so broadly that they cover “all claims arising from the beginning of time through the date of this agreement.” People laugh at that phrase, but it is doing some pretty heavy lifting. You may be signing away rights worth far more than the check you’re offered.
“Can I Just Get Out of It?” The Painful Answer
Here’s a scenario that plays out all the time. Someone signs on a Friday, then talks to a friend or starts feeling like they were pushed out unfairly. Over the next few weeks, there is the persistent thought that their employer did something wrong. So, they call a lawyer to talk about the employment dispute they were entangled in before the layoff or termination. Then they ask, “can I undo this?”
The honest answer is usually no. Courts take signed contracts seriously. When you sign, the law generally presumes you read it, understood it, and agreed to it. “I didn’t really read it” is almost never enough to get you out. To rescind a signed agreement, you typically have to prove something extreme. In Texas, that can be a steep hill to climb, and you carry the burden of proof.
There’s another catch. Many agreements require you to give back the severance money before you can challenge the release, and by then it’s often spent on rent and bills. Some also contain a covenant not to sue, meaning that if you try to sue anyway, you could owe the employer’s attorney’s fees. The very act of fighting can cost you more than you’d win, if you win at all. And if you lose and the court deems the waiver proper, you may end up with nothing but a bill for your former employer’s attorneys’ fees and costs.
There are narrow exceptions. Under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, workers over 40 have a 21- or 45-day period to consider an age-discrimination waiver and 7 days to revoke it after signing. But those windows are measured in days, and once they close, they close. The time to get advice is before the ink dries.
The Bottom Line
Sometimes a severance deal is the right move, and a good lawyer will tell you so. But you deserve to know what you’re giving up before you give it up. Signing is fast and easy. Attempting to unsign may be slow, very expensive, and usually next to impossible. So before you sign anything tied to a termination, layoff, or dispute, do yourself one favor: have an employment attorney review it first. If you are thinking about signing a severance or settlement agreement, contact our employment attorneys for a confidential review before you sign, so you know what you’re giving up.