California | Employment Law
Legal Question
Unpaid Severance
I work for a major entertainment company. In October 1999, I was laid off with 9 other employees. We were all given 8 weeks notice and told we would be given 1 weeks severance pay for every year we had been employed. We were also encouraged to try to find new jobs WITHIN the company AND told we would recieve our severance package EVEN IF WE STAYED WITH THE COMPANY. We were told this in our "lay off conference" by a senior level representative of Human Resources verbally AND in writing via email. Three of us ended up finding jobs within the company. We have asked for our severance pay several times to no avail. We eventually received an email from HR stating that we had been promised the severance "in error"...that people that stay with the company do not get severance pay. We all made decisions based on this promise. We all could have left the company with our severance package and been rehired by the company a week later, but based on their promise that we would receive severance no matter what, we stayed. If we file a claim with the Labor Board will we win based on the oral and verbal promise the company made?
THANKS FOR YOUR INSIGHT!!
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