Start here
Today, do these three things
Everything else on this site can wait. These cannot.
- 1
You do not have to sign anything today
Many people say or write: "I understand. I would like to review this before signing anything." That sentence is complete. No further explanation is owed, and asking for time to review is a normal request.
California gives you at least five business days to consider a separation agreement and consult a lawyer. If you are 40 or over, federal law gives you 21 days, or 45 in a group layoff, plus 7 days to change your mind after signing.
- 2
Download your documents before your access ends
This is the step people regret skipping, and the window is often hours. Save the agreement, anything you ever signed, your pay statements, your benefits summary and your equity details to personal storage.
The four-minute download list - 3
Write down four dates
Your separation date. When final pay arrives. When health coverage ends. The deadline printed on the agreement. Put all four in your calendar now, while the document is still in front of you.
Every other deadline
Read the transcript
Two versions of a severance agreement. One line is different. Can you find it? Less any amounts the Company determines are owed to it. Revisions are normal. Not knowing which one you signed is the problem. 38% of large employers say they've made severance less generous. In 2024, it was 9%. A PDF arrives. Then a revised one. Then a signing link on a Friday night. Then the work login closes, and the copy is behind it. California law gives workers a copy of the employment documents they sign. Upon request. Many people ask for it in writing. Many people also compare the signing screen with the version they read, and save the signed copy where it opens without a company login. The one you signed is the one that counts. Right to a Final Copy is working to make that copy automatic. Send this to someone who just got the email.
Before you sign · 0:52
Can you find the line that changed?
Two versions of a fictional severance clause, one added line, and what California law says about getting a copy of what you signed.
Where are you?
Pick the one that matches, and go straight there.
I was told today or yesterday
The first 72 hours, hour by hour. Written to be read when you cannot concentrate.
This weekI have an agreement in front of me
A clause-by-clause walkthrough, in the order the clauses appear.
Before you replyI want to ask for more
What is actually negotiable, in what order to ask, and the exact words that work.
CarefulThey sent me a new version
Compare a replacement with the version you read before signing. Here is how, in two minutes.
Any timeI cannot find what I signed
A ready-to-send California records request with the statutes that make it answerable.
Week oneI need to sort out money
Final pay, unemployment, COBRA against Covered California, and retirement accounts.
Before AprilWhy was my severance check so small?
Withholding is not tax. What that means, and the decisions that actually change the number.
If it is seriousI think something unlawful happened
Free and low-cost help in California, and the deadlines that are easiest to miss.
One thing not to do
Do not start forwarding company documents to your personal email. The instinct is right and the method is wrong. It can create a problem larger than the one you started with, and California gives you lawful ways to get your records with penalties attached.What you may keep.