Legal Question in Employment Law in Ohio

The company I work for is closing/consolidating offices. As a result of this, I was approached by HR with a formal job offer. The offer was considered unreasonable so I was also given the option to the reject the offer, and receive severence benefits. I signed to not accept the offer, and would therefore be considered a displaced employee and receive severence benefits. Now a month and a half later they are saying that severence is off the table because they made a mistake and now need more fulltime people. Is it legal for them to rescind a signed and agreed upon offer?


Asked on 2/10/12, 11:11 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Daniel Myers Myers Law, LLC

If what you signed was an actual severance agreement, which gave you actual benefits in exchange for your resignation or some other exchange, it is likely a binding contract that you can enforce if you would like. But if you signed a document which said you were quitting, but did not say what benefits you would be getting, then that really is not a severance agreement.

Then, the question is whether you want to enforce it (if it is legally sufficient enough to be enforced). If you do want to, and it is an actual severance agreement, you may have to look into legal action to enforce it. Of course, if you would rather go back and get the full-time work, then maybe you could renegotiate the pay for that work based on their owing you the severance agreement. They cannot force you to work against your will, but they can fire you if you did not sign a severance agreement and now refuse to work (it is more like you quit, then), and then you are entitled to nothing, maybe not even unemployment?

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Answered on 2/10/12, 11:20 am


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