The playbook / The specimen

One whole agreement, read end to end

The playbook takes a separation agreement apart clause by clause. This page puts one back together. It tells a short story. A made up company hands a made up worker a separation agreement. The agreement is printed in full, in the order it would arrive. After each part, a short note says what the clause does and where that pattern is explained in the playbook.

This is a fictional story. The company, people, dates, numbers and wording are invented. Any resemblance to a real agreement is coincidental.

Read it top to bottom, including the parts that look like boilerplate. Those parts often matter most.

Fictional specimen

Totally Normal Corp. does not exist. Neither do Jordan Lee or Dana Whitfield. Every date, amount, section number and sentence below was written for this page, for teaching. What is real is the set of mechanisms. Each clause uses a common drafting device, and the notes show where each one sits in the playbook.

How to read it

The document is the lesson

Nothing in the specimen is exotic. A typical agreement rarely has one dramatic clause. It has twenty ordinary ones, and the risk is in how they combine: a second signature that carries a repayment penalty, a deadline the document states two ways, a review period that changes cannot restart. Read the agreement text first. The panels markedWhat to notice are this site's commentary. They are not part of the document.

Compare it with the ideal example, the fair process described in employers' own guidance. The ideal is one short agreement, signed once, with every document attached and every change marked. The specimen shows what the departures from that look like when they are assembled into one invented document.

Scorecard

Twelve playbook patterns in one fictional document

Counted from the text below: twelve of the playbook's twenty-three patterns appear in this one agreement. Other clauses, like the Section 1542 waiver, the cooperation clause and the COBRA paragraph, are ordinary terms. They are annotated because a careful reader should understand them, not because they are moves, and they are not counted here.

Pattern	Where it sits in the specimen
The second signature	The cover letter, Section 4 and the Confirming Release (Form B)
A deadline the document states two different ways	The cover letter and Section 2 say 10 days. Section 4 says 30.
The repayment clause	Section 4.3: a late Form B means paying back the transition pay
The date that moves	Section 4.3: your Last Day moves back to your Final Workday
The attestation clause	Section 6: you confirm, as of today, that you have never complained or filed anything
A release that reaches retaliation claims, layoff notice claims, and fees	Section 7.1, items (g), (h) and (k)
The unwaivable waiver	Sections 7.1 and 7.2, read against Sections 7.3 and 12
The documents you never saw	Sections 8.2 and 14.2 bind you to a policy that is not attached
The closed door, reference half	Section 10: future employers hear your title and dates, and nothing else
If you lose, you pay our fees	Section 13.2: the side that wins recovers its attorneys' fees
The clock that never restarts	Section 2: changes, large or small, do not restart any review period
A copy assembled from separate pages	Section 14.5: pages signed at different times are read as one agreement

Fictional story. Totally Normal Corp. and Jordan Lee are invented.

TOTALLY NORMAL CORP.

500 Plainview Avenue, Sacramento, California 95814

Monday, September 8, 2025

Jordan Lee
88 Quiet Lane
Davis, California 95616

Re: Separation Agreement and Release

Dear Jordan:

This letter and the pages after it are your Separation Agreement and Release (the "Agreement"). It explains how your job will end and what extra benefits Totally Normal Corp. (the "Company") will give you if you accept. To accept, sign and return this Agreement within 10 days of today. Then sign and return the Confirming Release (Form B), attached at the back, on your Last Day or within 7 days after it. The benefits in Section 4 are paid only if you sign both. If you sign neither, you will still receive everything described in Section 3.

1. Your Dates

Your last day of active work will be Friday, September 19, 2025 (your "Final Workday"). Your employment will end on Friday, October 3, 2025 (your "Last Day"), unless Section 4.3 changes it. You are not expected to work between those two dates. During that time you stay on payroll and in Company benefit plans.

2. Time to Review This Agreement

You have 10 days to consider each document: 10 days from the day you receive this Agreement, and 10 days for Form B. Because Form B releases claims through your Last Day, its 10 days start on your Last Day, and it may not be signed earlier. You may sign either document sooner. If you do, you agree that you chose to, freely, and that you give up the rest of the period. The Company advises you to talk with a lawyer of your choice before you sign, and you confirm that you have had the chance. No one at the Company has asked you to sign early. Changes to this agreement, large or small, do not restart any review period.

What to notice

The last sentence carries the most weight. If a revised version arrives on day eight, the clock keeps running, even if the change is a big one, because this sentence says it does.
Because of that sentence, people commonly save every version they receive, note when each one arrived, and compare the version they are asked to sign with the one they first read.
Hold on to the Form B rule here: 10 days to consider it, starting on the Last Day. Section 4 sets a different window for the same document.
Federal law sets its own, longer review and revocation periods when a release covers age discrimination claims of a worker who is 40 or older (the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act). A document's review period does not always match what the law requires for every claim it lists.

Playbook: The clock that never restarts · The late swap · Tools: Compare two versions · Request changes in writing

3. Pay You Receive Either Way

Whether or not you sign anything, the Company will pay all wages you have earned through your Last Day, including accrued and unused vacation, on the schedule the law requires. No wage you have already earned depends on your signature.

4. Separation Benefits

The Company will provide the benefits in this Section only if you do all three of these things: (1) sign and return this Agreement within 30 days after you receive it; (2) sign and return Form B within 7 days after your Last Day; and (3) return all Company property as Section 8 requires. You agree that you would not otherwise be entitled to these benefits.

4.1 Separation Payment. The Company will pay you $27,400 in one lump sum, less required withholdings and any amount you owe the Company. It will be paid on the second regular payday after the later of these two events: the Company receives your signed Form B, or you return all Company property.

4.2 Paid Transition Period. The time from your Final Workday to your Last Day is a paid transition period. During it you keep your base salary and benefits, and your equity keeps vesting as described in Section 5. You agree that this period is a benefit you are not otherwise entitled to.

4.3 If Form B Is Late. If the Company does not receive your signed Form B within 7 days after your Last Day, you will be in breach of this Agreement, and all of the following will apply. (a) Your Last Day will become your Final Workday. (b) Within 20 days after the Company asks, you will repay all salary paid to you for the transition period and the cost of your benefits for that period. (c) Any equity that vested after your Final Workday will be cancelled.

5. Health Coverage and Equity

5.1 Health Coverage. Your Company medical, dental and vision coverage ends on your Last Day. The plan administrator will send you separate information about keeping health coverage under COBRA, at your own cost.

5.2 Equity. Your stock options and restricted stock units stop vesting on your Last Day. No unvested award will vest early. If the equity plan or an award document conflicts with this Section, the plan or award document controls.

6. Your Confirmations

By signing, you confirm that each of the following is true today. (a) You have not filed or started any lawsuit, charge, claim or complaint against the Company, or anyone connected with it, in any court or with any government agency. (b) You have not raised a complaint of any kind about your employment through any Company channel, including a manager, Human Resources or an ethics hotline.

7. Release of Claims

7.1 Claims Released. In exchange for the benefits in Section 4, you release Totally Normal Corp. and its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, owners, officers, directors, employees, agents, insurers, successors and assigns (the "Released Parties") from every claim you have or may have against any of them, known or unknown, up to the date you sign this Agreement. This is meant to be read broadly. It includes, but is not limited to, claims involving:

(a) any contract or promise, whether written, spoken or implied;
(b) wages, overtime, bonuses, commissions or equity compensation. You agree there is a genuine disagreement about whether any of these amounts is still owed;
(c) family, medical or other leave laws;
(d) benefits of any kind, including severance, insurance and retirement benefits;
(e) wrongful termination;
(f) discrimination or harassment based on any characteristic protected by law, including age, race, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability and medical condition;
(g) retaliation, including any claim that you were treated worse because you complained about, reported or opposed discrimination, harassment, unsafe conditions or any other violation of law;
(h) advance notice of layoffs, mass layoffs or site closings under federal or California law;
(i) workplace health and safety laws;
(j) fraud, misrepresentation, defamation, emotional distress or interference with contract; and
(k) penalties of any kind, interest, attorneys' fees and costs.

7.2 Unknown Claims. You give up any rights you may have under California Civil Code Section 1542, and under any similar law in any other place. Section 1542 reads: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party."

7.3 Limits on This Release. This release does not cover claims that the law does not allow you to give up, claims to enforce this Agreement, or claims based on events after the date you sign this Agreement. Form B, once you sign it, releases claims for the period from the date you sign this Agreement through your Last Day.

8. Company Property and Confidential Information

8.1 Property. By signing, you state that you have returned, or will return by your Final Workday, all property of the Company and its affiliates. This includes your laptop, phone, badge, keys and security tokens, and all Company data, documents and files in any form, wherever they are stored.

8.2 Confidential Information. You will keep following the Company's Inventions and Confidentiality Policy, which you accepted when you joined. That Policy defines "Confidential Information." Your duties under it continue after your employment ends, and nothing in this Agreement narrows them.

9. Future Help

If the Company or an affiliate asks, you will help with any matter you know about from your work, including any investigation, agency proceeding or lawsuit. That help includes answering questions, meeting with Company lawyers and giving truthful testimony. The Company will repay reasonable expenses you incur in giving that help.

10. Comments and References

You will not make any statement about the Company, its products or services, or its officers or employees, that you know is false and that harms their reputation. This applies to statements made to anyone, including coworkers, customers and the press. Send any request for a reference or employment verification to the Company's People Team by email. In reply, the Company will confirm only your job title and your dates of employment.

11. Keeping the Terms Private

You will keep the terms of this Agreement private. You may share them with your spouse or domestic partner, your lawyer and your tax adviser, and when the law requires it.

12. Your Protected Rights

Nothing in this Agreement, including Sections 10 and 11, stops you from doing any of the following. (a) Filing a charge or complaint with, talking to, or giving information to any government agency, or taking part in its investigation. (b) Giving truthful testimony in any legal proceeding. (c) Talking about or sharing information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful. (d) Discussing your wages, benefits or other working conditions, filing a charge with the National Labor Relations Board, or taking part in other activity protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.

13. Disputes, Legal Fees and Governing Law

13.1 Governing Law. California law governs this Agreement and Form B.

13.2 Legal Fees. In any dispute about this Agreement or Form B, the side that wins may recover its reasonable attorneys' fees, costs and expenses from the other side, unless the law does not allow it.

14. General Terms

14.1 No Admission. By making this Agreement, no Released Party admits doing anything wrong.

14.2 Whole Agreement. This Agreement, Form B and the Inventions and Confidentiality Policy named in Section 8.2 are the whole agreement between you and the Company on these subjects. They replace any earlier discussions or promises about them.

14.3 Written Changes Only. A change to this Agreement or to Form B counts only if it is in writing and signed by you and an authorized Company representative.

14.4 Severability. If a court or arbitrator finds any part of this Agreement or Form B unenforceable, that part will be removed and the rest will still apply. If any claim cannot legally be released, the release still covers every other claim.

14.5 Signing in Separate Parts. This Agreement and Form B may be signed in separate copies, and each signed copy counts as an original. Signature pages signed at different times or places will be read together as one agreement. A scanned or electronic signature counts the same as a signature in ink.

READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY. IT RELEASES CLAIMS YOU KNOW ABOUT AND CLAIMS YOU DO NOT.

Sincerely,

Dana Whitfield, Director of People Operations
Totally Normal Corp.

I have read this Agreement. I am signing it by my own choice, with the information I need to decide, and I am not relying on any promise that is not written in it.

Signature Date: ____________
Print name: Jordan Lee

[FORM B IS ATTACHED ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES]

CONFIRMING RELEASE (FORM B)

Part of the Separation Agreement and Release dated September 8, 2025

Sign on your Last Day or within 7 days after it.

B-1. Wages Paid

By signing, you confirm that you have received all wages owed to you, including salary, overtime, bonuses and accrued, unused vacation.

B-2. Release Through Your Last Day

You repeat the release in Section 7.1 of the Agreement and extend it to the date you sign this Form B. It covers the same Released Parties and the same kinds of claims, items (a) through (k), including any claim that arose after you signed the Agreement.

B-3. Unknown Claims

Section 7.2 of the Agreement, including your waiver of California Civil Code Section 1542, applies to this Form B in full.

B-4. Terms Carried Over

Sections 8 through 14 of the Agreement, including future help, comments and references, privacy of terms, legal fees and severability, apply to this Form B as if written here. This Form B is part of the Agreement.

Signature Date: ____________
Print name: Jordan Lee

Dana Whitfield, Director of People Operations
Totally Normal Corp.

What to notice: the second document

Form B is not a receipt. It is a second release, signed on or after the Last Day, that covers everything since the first signature. Section B-1 also has you confirm that all wages have been paid. People commonly check that statement against their final pay records before signing.
Section B-4 brings in seven sections of the main agreement by number. Someone who no longer has the main agreement at hand on the Last Day is signing references they cannot check.
Form B carries the deadline with teeth. Under Section 4.3 of the main agreement, signing it late, or not at all, moves the Last Day and makes the transition pay repayable. And the 3 day window is shorter than the 10 day review period Section 2 promises for this same page.

Playbook: The second signature · The repayment clause

End of the fictional story. Totally Normal Corp., Jordan Lee and Dana Whitfield are invented. The dates, numbers and wording were written for this page.

After the specimen

What people commonly check in a real one

The specimen's lesson comes down to four habits that people commonly use. They save every version, with the date each one arrived. They count the signatures the document requires, and read the second document before signing the first. They find the deadline everywhere it is stated, and get conflicts answered in writing. And they keep their own complete copy, in a place they control, before their access ends.

To go further, measure a document against the ideal example, work through the playbook entry by entry, and usethe comparison tool when more than one version of an agreement has arrived.