What to do when you lose your job

What to do, in order, from the moment you are told. Designed to be read when you cannot concentrate.

• You do not have to sign anything on the day you are told, and you almost certainly should not.
• Download your documents before access ends. This is the step people regret skipping.
• Write down four dates: separation date, final pay date, benefits end date, signing deadline.

A clause-by-clause walkthrough of a California separation agreement, in the order the clauses usually appear.

• A release is about money. It generally cannot buy your silence about unlawful conduct.
• California requires a specific carve-out sentence in non-disparagement clauses covering workplace conduct.
• The last two pages hold the clauses that matter most: arbitration, choice of law, and incorporation by reference.

Nine deadlines begin running at once. Missing one is usually permanent. This is the master list.

• Deadlines do not pause because you are job hunting, grieving or waiting for a reply.
• The shortest clocks are the e-signature download window and your consideration period.
• Final pay on discharge is due immediately in California, and late payment carries a daily penalty.

What is actually negotiable in a severance package, in what order to ask, and the exact words that work.

• Most organizations have a process for appealing or negotiating severance, even when the first answer is no.
• Ask for specific things, one email, with reasons. General dissatisfaction does not get approved.
• The cheapest asks for the employer are often the most valuable to you.

The line between your records and the company's property, and how to preserve evidence without creating a new problem.

• Your own employment documents are yours to keep. Company confidential material is not.
• Self-help document collection is the most common unforced error after a job loss.
• California has statutory routes to get your records, with penalties attached. Use those instead.

Final pay, unemployment, health coverage and retirement accounts. The order to handle them and the deadlines on each.

• Final pay on discharge is due immediately in California, and late payment carries a daily penalty up to 30 days.
• Vested vacation is wages under Labor Code 227.3 and must be paid at your final rate.
• Severance under a company plan is generally not wages for California unemployment purposes, and vacation paid out at a permanent separation does not reduce weekly benefits. Report everything, including pay in lieu of notice.

Why your severance check was smaller than you expected, why that is not the final answer, and the decisions that actually change your tax bill.

• Withholding is not tax. A 22 percent federal flat rate on a lump sum is a deposit, not a bill.
• Severance is wages for FICA purposes. The Supreme Court settled that in 2014.
• The allocation written into the agreement drives the tax treatment. Fix it before signing.

How to tell whether two versions of an agreement are really the same, using tools you already have. A short, practical introduction to document forensics.

• Every PDF carries internal metadata that most people never look at, and it often contradicts the cover email.
• A one-minute properties check tells you who created a file, with what software, and when it was last modified.
• Word's Compare feature produces a reliable redline between two versions in about thirty seconds.