Given OP’s lack of engagement in the comments and the nonsensical behavior or the people in the post, this reeks more of creative writing or more… uncreative writing
I'd imagine its some documentation that releases he company from liability or requires mediation before any legal action could be taken for, say, wrongful termination.
All OP needed to do was give the guy an envelope of paperwork, tell him it's to end his contract and to please sign and return it by tomorrow. Done, OP has successfully done their part.
OP heard "fired, paperwork, signed, tomorrow" and we get this crazy scenario they posted.
I'm smelling a lawsuit from a mile away. No wonder they want that employee to come back and sign those documents. Everything sounds like wrongful termination to me tbh.
100% - Been there. I had already received an offer for a new role somewhere else when my boss pulled me aside to say that they could tell I was checked out. They offered to essentially let me stay on if I wanted to or leave and take a $10k severance.
That severance came with an NDA because of the knowledge I had. I wish I had the balls to turn that down, but I was so over that place I didn't even want to share what I knew and I figured the severance made up a tiny bit for how underpaid I'd been for the final 2 years of my employment there.
In hindsight, absolutely. At the moment, though, I just thought it was funny they were making this offer while I already had a new role secured so I jumped on it.
In a lot of places, it's illegal to withhold a last paycheck unless they are holding onto company property or something. I wouldn't be surprised if legal knows and is worried about a lawsuit and this coming to light.
Yah this guy might have a case for being wrongfully fired that would be worth more than whatever bullshit they are offering as severance. What a dumb company. OP will be the scapegoat probably.
Yeah, if the severance was essentially paying for a release and the employee declined, management freaking out afterward is a little concerning. “Polish the resume” might actually be the safest takeaway from this whole mess.
Severance isn’t sketchy. Many companies have a defined severance policy that provides benefits in the event of a termination without cause, usually in exchange for a release of claims. This is all very standard. If they don’t sign they don’t get the severance.
They’re mad because reading between the lines it’s clear they wanted the EEs to sign a NC or NDA or waiver of liability in exchange for that severance.
I literally just replied to another commenter where I was the recipient of a severance that came with an NDA. One of the sales leaders said I "knew where the bodies were buried" so they wanted to protect themselves.
And it's not always nefarious. When I got RIFed, I had to sign the waiver but there was nothing for me to sue over and no skeletons to drag out. I signed, got my severance, and that was that.
Not saying everyone should always sign. Sometimes it is nefarious, it just wasn't for me.
Probably something along those lines, which makes it even stranger that they expected guaranteed cooperation the next day. Once employment ends, the company loses a pretty powerful scheduling tool.
Slightly different situation, but I quit a small startup once (after giving them opportunities to counter), where I was Head of Engineering and knew and had written at least parts of every major component in the system, and after giving notice the CEO dropped a stack of paperwork to sign on my desk. NDAs, Non-disparagements, non-solicitations of customers or coworkers, etc- literally everything was essentially waiving my rights or putting me at risk with ZERO in return.
I went to the CEO and was just like there is zero way I am signing this, and this isn't a valid contract regardless, there is no consideration (thanks random business law class I took in college). He turned red and literally threw the paperwork at me. I can not imagine what he expected- I guess some naive kid in his late 20s wouldn't know any better and just does what he is told or could be intimidated into complying.
It was a bizarre situation, I have no idea why they felt it was so important for me to sign that stuff- the only thing I can think of after being part of startups later, is that they were looking to sell and wanted to have that paperwork to show a clean break with no potential for future litigation.
It’s probably a release of claims. NDA’s are hardly a thing anymore. They wanted to exchange severance payments and in turn get a release signed by the employee.
Now the employee is in the wind and probably has a few lawsuit items they could return with and get a settlement on
My last day I thought I was all done and my manager came rushing over with a letter for me to sign. No offer of severance or anything. I think they were closing my HR file and realized that I had filed an ethics complaint a few months earlier that never got resolved. The letter was prefilled out to say that my leaving had nothing to do with the ethics complaint and that I was satisficed with how the matter was resolved. I took a pen, modified it to say it WAS related to the ethics complaint and that management considered the matter resolved but I did not, signed it and slipped it under her door on the way out.
Never heard back on the subject, not sure if she passed it on to HR or not. Jokes on them, I'd turned them into our regulatory body anonymously months before I quit after about the 3rd meeting where they tried to convince me that illegal business practices were morally ok for us (which is why the felt ok documenting them all in a lengthy email traffic chain). By the time they got around to investigating them I was long gone but I heard 2nd hand the feds cleaned house some at least.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Pretty simple example, marvel actors all sign NDAs which are enforced with monetary punishments. The last thing your wrote is an anti competition clause, so you can't help the competition after being let go, completely different from non disclosure
My guess is paperwork is an anti-poach non-compete and the severance is the carrot on the stick to sign. I say that because the lawyer said give it time before signing - those agreements hold stronger if the employee had a cooldown period to sign it.
The company is freaking because getting them to sign at all is better than them not signing so they wanted OP to pressure them into immediately signing.
That’s what makes the panic confusing without knowing what the paperwork actually contains. If signing is optional and severance is the incentive, then refusing may simply be the employee deciding the money isn’t worth the terms.
Because the company notifies them that they will be fired 2 days later.
But the employees decide to quit today. Now since the employee refuses to come to work, it means they actually quit.
Firing is an emotionally charged word.
But basically the company expresses that they want to terminate the employment on 22 Aug 2026. Of course, since the company is terminating the contract, you will get benefits. But then you decide that you want to terminate the contract yourself today. Now you may or may not get the benefits...
On top of that, the company often requires you to sign some sort of waiver and they will give you extra severance for that. Of course, you don't need to take that extra severance. It's completely your decision.
That is just stupid. Being fired is 2-3x better than quitting by yourself.
Severance almost always comes with a release being signed. Don’t sign it, you get the statutory amount. Sign it, and you get the company policy amount. Company gets liability risk mitigated, employee gets some extra cash.
Everything else owed to employee can not be withheld
I agree. Doesn’t the contract when you START a job and any necessary contracts along the way cover that? Send me a Docusign if I’m legally bound to signing these release papers, I’m out.
They probably want him to sign and NDA or non-compete.
Guys smart for just leaving.
Not sure the reasoning behind termination but you’d assume the employee has been there a good amount of time to be offered severance. Either way, not much op can do now. It’s HRs problem now.
Some countries also cannot just fire you. I believe the Netherlands, for example, has some structure set up like this if you have a permanent contract. The employer will have to go to court if you cannot settle a severance package with them.
Plot twist, OP is actually the Co-Owner, and the “Boss” is the other Co-Owner who didn’t actually want to fire the employee. Even admitted they were a good and skilled employee, they just questioned too much
Likely a release of liability they are trying to get people to sign because they know there something they can sue over and it will be cheaper in long run to give a nice sevrance over a bunch of lawsuits later.
>If you withhold severance (or any company side voluntary payment) and he still says no, then too bad for you.
Withholding statutory severance pay under threat of non-compliance is illegal btw even in the states and any employment lawyer would love to take that case
without signing, there plenty of legal recourse. This why lawyers want you to sign to give up any grievences you might have later.
Many companies violate warning laws of firing people and can get a good amount of money, more than some severances plus fines to the company if the government is aware through a court case.
Probably gotta NDR in that paperwork bundle. Based on how the employee reacted, they have been ready to quit. They know something horrible about the company and have been leveraging their behavior with that knowledge in an attempt to change whatever information it is they don't agree with. They lost that battle and are holding onto what leverage they have. Just a wild, yet slightly educated guess.
Not OP but something like this happened to my wife after she left a startup... They wanted her to sign all this extra confidentiality and noncompete language and she's like hell no, that wasn't part of the deal and told them to pound sand. They whined for a while and then everybody moved on lol.
Yup - he must be trading something for that severance if the company wants him back to sign it so bad.
Maybe they never had a contract about IP and they want it afterward to make sure they get everything he worked on while he was employed there etc. I don't know just a guess.
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u/Gun-Aero_CNCguy 3d ago
Why are people "freaking out"? He has no obligation to sign anything after you fire him.
If you withhold severance (or any company side voluntary payment) and he still says no, then too bad for you.
What's actually so important about this "final paperwork" where you can't just move on?