Severance
Severance advisory and negotiation coaching.
Release scopes, cash delta negotiation and clawbacks — read in commercial terms, then turned into asks you can actually make.
What we cover
- Release scope: what you are signing away and how far it reaches
- Cash delta negotiation on gross base severance, in priority order
- Earned but unpaid commission, bonus and draw balances, negotiated as a true-up
- All rounds of the negotiation included, coached exchange by exchange
- Clawbacks, repayment triggers and forfeiture wording
- Non-compete, non-solicit and non-disparagement terms attached to the release
- Benefits continuation, equity treatment and timing of final payments
- A written playbook plus the exact counter-language to send
Owed commission, bonus or draw at exit? It is negotiated as a true-up inside the same engagement, at no extra fee. How commission recovery works
How the engagement runs
Most severance packages are a first offer written for the company's convenience. We tell you which terms carry real cost to you, which asks employers routinely grant, and the order to raise them in. Earned but unpaid commission, bonus or draw balances are negotiated as part of the same engagement — a true-up line item alongside the cash ask — because it is the same counterparty on the same deadline. Negotiation packages include every round — each counteroffer is re-read and your response re-sequenced until the negotiation closes — which is why they carry a success fee on the increase in gross base cash severance rather than a per-round charge.
Flat fee, a senior advisor on every engagement, and a written playbook delivered async in the portal. Your employer never knows we exist — you deliver every message yourself.
Already signed? A short revocation window may still be open.
Under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, a release of federal age-discrimination claims must give workers 40+ at least seven calendar days to revoke after signing, and the agreement usually does not take effect or pay out until that window closes.
- Age 40 or older: a release of federal age-discrimination claims must give you at least 7 calendar days after signing to revoke it, and the agreement normally is not effective — and does not pay — until that window passes.
- Under 40: you only have a revocation right if the agreement itself contains a revocation clause. Many agreements do not.
- Age-40+ releases also normally include a consideration period before signing — at least 21 days for an individual exit, and 45 days for a group layoff or exit program.
- Some states add their own rescission window, so your actual deadline depends on your agreement and your state.
- Revocation is a deadline to respect, not a negotiating tactic. Treat signing as final and get advice before the window runs out.
General information, not legal advice. Source: EEOC: Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims. Reviewed August 2026.
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Fulcrum provides employment advisory and negotiation coaching, not legal advice, and does not represent you in any legal proceeding.