Legal Question in Employment Law in California

severance pay

My mother in law was laid off in the month of February 2008, and was at that time given a severance package for 21 weeks pay. She was out of work for 12 of those weeks (and they only paid her for the 12 weeks of severance), and that same company asked her if she would come back to work for them. She said yes and has been working there since the beginning of May 2008. It is now August 14th (ironically, a little over 90 days after being hired again) and they laid her off this morning.

Another piece of info you should know is that last week, they told all company employees that severance pay would only be for 2 weeks only, regardless of how many years you were with the company. The original severance agreement, was 1 week severance for every year employed at the company. She was with the company for 23 years.

My question is, is there a law against changing severance agreements after she was originally told she would get 2 weeks for every year employed with the company? In my opinion, I think the reason they hired her back was so they could change the severance agreement, and then laid her off immediately after the 90 day period. Please respond to the email given in the additional information. thanks.

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