Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: Successor employer refuses to allow continuation of telecommuting.

If you are establishing a new relationship with the acquiring company, it will not be bound by any prior agreements you had with the former employer, unless there are specific promises that the terms and conditions of your prior employment will not change.

Severance pay is not required to be paid by law. It is the product of an agreement between the employer and employee. In order to determine whether there is a contractual obligation for the employer to pay severance to you under the conditions you describe, the severance plan will have to be examined.

To receive unemployment benefits when an employee quits, the employee must show that she did so for good cause. There are cases that have said that excessive travel that causes a hardship to the employee constitutes good cause. Whether your situation applies depends on the specific facts of your case. You will have to show how the daily travel would cause you hardship, beyond the unpleasant commute that many other workers are required to do.