My fee agreement with my lawyer says:
"to represent Client as legal counsel for all purposes in connection with negotiating a severance package with Client’s employer"
Fee Agreement:
1. 1/3 of settlement above value of present offer
2. Advance Fixed Retainer $0.00
3. Cost to be timely paid or advanced by Client
Scope is limited to exclude costs to defend Client from counterclaims.
The lawyer drafted 2 complaints and 1 demand letter, but the ex-employer did not respond. The next step is file suit. The lawyer wants me to pay $5k for this + $300 file and service process fee + $800 for transcript of deposition. I think these costs should be included as our 1/3 contingency amount. Who is right?
The real question is if filing suit (the complaints I have against the employer for employment law violations) is part of the negotiation process to get a better severance package or not.
I’m more interested about the $5k amount, as it is not a cost incurred to the lawyer but it sounds more like a fixed retainer. So, I’m not sure that’s something I’m required to pay.
Attorney offered two options:
1. Contingent (1/3)
2. Hourly rate, capped at $2k
I picked #1 and now it seems like he’s trying to change the agreement by saying filing suit is not part of the negotiation process.
Your answer lies right here: "3. Cost to be timely paid or advanced by Client" – You pay the costs.
I have a coworker who was asked to relocate 6 months ago or take a severance. He told the company he’d relocate and needed 6 mths to sell his home and move. Company agreed.
6 months is up and he starts a new job with another company on Monday. He has not quit his current position. Since he is remote he plans to check his blackberry and get caught up at night while he negotiates a severance package, which could take a month. He has not told my boss he started a new position but my boss suspects he must have something lined up since he turned down a 90 day ext. to stay remote and asked for HR info on severance package.
He told me all this while in town last week. My boss knows the 2 of us are close and asked me if he talked to me about his situation and I told him he didn’t discuss anything with me.
Do I have any obligation to tell my boss what I know. I feel what he is doing is way wrong but I don’t want to look like a tattle tale either. What do I do?
It is not your place to say anything to your manager unless you are directly responsible for this employee or you are in HR. There is most likely alot more to this situation than you know and it may come back and bite you in the behind. You telling your boss what you know will most likely make no difference to the outcome and would make you seem untrustworthy among your colleagues and this would not be worth it.
Wall Street Bailout Could Crimp CEO Pay
Democrats want to rein in rich exit packages and reclaim millions paid to bosses who piled up toxic mortgage assets. But it won’t be easy.
As Congress and the Bush Administration negotiate over the terms of a financial rescue bill, Democrats on Capitol Hill are drafting language designed to rein in executive compensation, in particular controversial severance packages at foundering companies. And for politicians concerned about the growing backlash on Main Street over what many see as a bailout of Wall Street fat cats, executive pay is a ripe target. After all, average total pay for a CEO at one of the 500 biggest companies last year was $12.8 million, double what it was a decade ago.
But compensation attorneys and experts say many of the restrictions could prove tough to enforce.
Executive pay was shaping up as one of a few remaining sticking points as Congress and the Republican Administration hurried to put a deal together amid further stock market declines on Sept. 22. In several areas the players were nearing accord, with Administration officials reportedly accepting some congressional oversight and relief for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages — key provisions for Democrats.
Legislative language circulating on Capitol Hill on Monday afternoon also included mechanisms that would give the government ownership stakes in companies benefiting from the bailout, to make up for losses the government might incur. Senate Democrats revived a provision that would allow judges to modify the terms of mortgages in bankruptcy proceedings, much as other debts can be adjusted. But the financial-services industry is strongly opposed to the provision and some predicted it would not garner sufficient support in the House.
Vaguely Worded Provisions
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 23, with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission. Lawmakers have said they hope to craft a deal by the end of the week, when Congress is slated to adjourn.
Severance Pay Ban
Language in a draft House bill was similar, applying the restrictions for two years following Treasury assistance. But it also imposed additional restrictions on at least some companies, banning severance pay for top executives and requiring the companies to make it easier for substantial shareholders to nominate and elect board members and for shareholders generally to hold advisory votes on executive compensation.
Legal Remedies May Be Required
For one thing, executive compensation is typically governed by multiyear contracts. Forcing companies to change provisions in those contracts could require them to reopen negotiations with the executives who stand to lose benefits. Getting those execs to agree without sweetening the deal in some other way could prove difficult, especially if the executives are on their way out the door or face being ousted. "If I’m being invited to modify the agreement and then being shown the door at the same time, I’m probably not going to be too agreeable," says Lewis Wiener, head of the financial-services litigation practice at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.
Constitutional Challenge Possible
"Claw-back" provisions requiring executives to give up pay or severance benefits if corporate results prove to be misstated, for example, might be even trickier. Large companies have increasingly written claw-backs into executive-pay contracts, with triggers ranging from financial restatements to fraud. But where such clauses aren’t already in place, the government’s insistence on adding one could leave it open to a constitutional challenge under the Fifth Amendment, which bars the government from taking private property for public use without just compensation.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/105818/Wall-Street-Bailout-Could-Crimp-CEO-Pay
Most of those azzholes are not deserving of any form of severance pay. They have mismanaged their companies, f*cked over the consumers and employees, and have screwed our nations economy all to hell. I have no sympathy for these bastards and wish they couldn’t get a dime of severance pay. Unfortunately the contracts they have will be honored, which just sucks.
Every day, 200,000 domestic workers in New York, mostly women of color, make it possible for others to work. But these nannies, elderly caregivers, and housekeepers are excluded from the most basic labor laws (including the National Labor Relations Act), and isolated with no power or leverage to negotiate. They endure long hours, low wages and sometimes emotional and physical abuse.
New York State is considering historic legislation that would provide protections to domestic workers for the first time! The New York Domestic Workers Bill of Rights is the first of its kind nationally and will set a precedent for labor standards for domestic workers around the country
Stand with domestic workers by calling Albany legislators to help pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights!
Call Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver at (518)-455-3791 and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith at (518)-455-2701 and say:
“My name is __________, and I live in ___________ New York. I’m calling to urge you to help pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Bill numbers A1470/S2311 this legislative session. Tomorrow, hundreds of domestic workers and their supporters will come to Albany for a day of action and education. Please work with them to move the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to the floor for a vote.”
Then find your own representatives and let them know you want them to support the Bill of Rights:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
http://www.senate.state.ny.us/senatehomepage.nsf/senators?OpenForm
In the wake of the economic crisis, the conditions facing domestic workers have worsened. Facing alarming rates of lay-offs, cut wages and extended hours, without notice, severance pay or any safety net, now more than ever – domestic workers need the Bill of Rights.
For 5 years, domestic workers have come together across communities to organize for dignity and respect, and demand the passage of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York State, which would include:
* Notice of termination
* Severance pay, sick days and holidays, and
* An annual cost of living wage increase.
In the last two months, both the New York Assembly and Senate Labor Committees have passed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights out of committee. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance, an alliance of domestic workers organizations in 10 cities across the country, will co-sponsor the week of action and send delegates to stand with New York’s domestic workers. Join the week of action and support domestic workers to reverse a long history of injustice and exploitation, and chart a future based on respect and dignity for all work.
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To those who ***** about the protection of bad workers, "unreasonable demands", and other things unions are accused of – why is that so bad when any incompetent or greedy CEO can walk away from a company with a negotiated "severance package" worth MILLIONS AND STILL GET HEALTH CARE FOR LIFE?? And in many cases still have a job serving on the company’s board of directors getting paid like they hadn’t gotten fired at all while the company goes bankrupt? And all this allowed by a political climate fostered by a Republican President that bumbles through a simple speech?..
Just to let you know…Im a small business & rental property owner……worked at 2 union Jobs and come from a military family…and voted for Reagan (1st term)
You forgot to add you as an option .
This is just business. Hey if the guy is smart enough to get a board of directors to agree to his terms, well that is America.
Somehow this president got the job, I don’t see you in his seat. Maybe you can do a better job, I am sure you can. But are you smart enough to get the job?
Why should the president step in to stop these CEO’s? If I remember, this is not a socialist government.
Hi ALL,
The lawyer’s fees will be a % of the increase in severance package plus legal costs per hours spent. How do I control the "legal costs per hours spent"? how do i know if she worked 10 hours, 2 or 30 hours when we’re done and she provides the report/account balance? is there a smarter way to negotiate with her fairly or control the hours spent and avoid surprises at the end? THANKS.
have you applied for unemployment?
if you received a severance package didn’t you waive your rights to litigation?
have you found an attorney who will actually take your case?
"wrongful discrimination" is next to impossible to resolve since in the US most states are "at-will" employment unless under a contract. if under contract and the employer is in breach attorney fees should not be an issue as that should be addressed in the contract.
Good Luck………………………….
but most attorneys charge for out of pocket expenses regardless of if they win even when working on contingency basis.
those out of pocket expenses can include
copy fees, phone bills, court filing fees, mailing expenses, travel expenses along with meals just to name a few. you will be charged for these items and possibly many others out of any settlement………………..
or billed for, even if you don’t win.
Angela Self, one of the founders of the Smart Cookies, discusses some ways to handle layoffs.
*What should I do if I have been laid-off?
*Can I negotiate my severance package?
*What are some ways to bring money in if you have been laid off?
*How big should an emergency fund be to cope with things like being laid-off?
*How many people have an emergency fund?
*How do you build up an emergency fund?
*What investments should I use for my emergency fund?
The Investor Education Fund is pleased to be cosponsoring this video series with the Globe and Mail called “Lets Talk Investing.” The series is hosted by renowned Globe and Mail columnist Rob Carrick and features prominent Canadian financial experts discussing topics that are relevant to investors.
Duration : 0:2:51
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Severance Packages Have Increased Since the Last Recession – Interview with Barbara Barra of Lee Hecht Harrison: The More Stakeholders Involved in Layoffs, The More Complicated (Bloomberg News)
Duration : 0:4:37
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Although the new co. has increased the offer 2 times,( 56k-58k-60k)it is still below my expectations(65K). Could I still negotiate, for example, to be reviewed after 6 months instead of a year? That way I get a salary increase in 6 mo. Also, with the bad economy of recent times,. how could I negotiate that in case they lay me off in the next 6mo. to 1 yr, for reasons other than performance, I would be entitled to 6mo. severance package? Can this be done and how do I ask. I am afraid they would just go to the next candidate if I ask for too much. Please advise. Thanks
Salary negotiation is a skill.Who ever can wait will ultimately gain. You please put forth your demand and wait. Donot give in under pressure. You will succeed.
