Termination of employee services with cause may be necessitated by a violation of the company's code of conduct or continuous poor performance. More causes include poor working relationships with other employees, managers and poor treatment of clients.
While no mandate requires employers to provide severance under California law, SB 331, signed into law in October 2021, introduced important provisions: Time to Review: You have a minimum of five days to review the severance agreement.
If you're fired for cause, which it sounds like you will be, then they don't need to give you severance. Normally companies will give something to avoid getting sued for wrongful dismissal, because normally there are steps they need to take in order to avoid those kinds of lawsuits.
You do not get severance if you quit. Nobody is automatically entitled to any severance legally, ever, unless you were hired under a contract such as a 1099 employee and you have severance written into your agreement. Standard W-2 employees usually do not get severance.
Neither the California Labor Code nor the federal Fair Labor Standards Act require employers to offer severance agreements to departing employees. Instead, severance agreements are provided by employers to accomplish a specific goal.
Under California law, employer must provide to employee: Notice to Employee As To Change In Relationship, Final Paycheck, Notification of Coverage Options, Notice of COBRA Continuation Rights, COBRA Election Notice, HIPP Notice, and Notice of Retirement Benefits.
Non-waivable claims: Certain claims, such as workers' compensation and unemployment insurance claims, cannot be waived by the employee. No prevailing party and attorney's fees: Ensure that the agreement does not include provisions that would allow either party to claim attorney's fees if legal disputes arise.
On February 21, 2023, the NLRB issued a decision stating that the language of typical Confidentiality Clauses and Non-disparagement Clauses are illegal because they infringe on an employee's right to organize (form a union) or help other employees organize.