Severance Negotiation Legal Guidance

I need you to get into employment severance lawyer mode - I have questions after being laid off in a reduction in force from a california based company

First, I'd like to tell the details of my last 12 months prior to being laid off so that you can help me determine if any of that matters to my story or negotiation points in my potential counter offer to the severance offer I was given. After that, I'd like to give you all of the details of my termination paperwork for you to analyze, and finally I'd like some suggestions and guidance on what is reasonable and fair to ask for in my counter offer. Any questions? And let me know if you anticipate having difficulty remembering anything as I provide this information.

Approximately, one year ago, I went out on an unexpected medical leave of absence from work. I ended up having seizures for the first time ever and was diagnosed with epilepsy. I am a 39 year old male that lives in Missouri and was working remotely for a California company. I was hired at the company in July * and terminated in June *. While I do not have any hard evidence, I have always felt as if there was a target on me after I returned from medical leave around September *. It was only a few months later that I learned my wife is pregnant, due August 20th *. I was concerned because I knew that I would have the opportunity to take another leave, this time parental leave as the company offered a * week full pay benefit for parents of a newborn child.

I even met with HR at the beginning of * to confirm that I would have access to this parental benefit due to my using the medical leave benefit the year prior and that it would not be something that the company held against me in any negative way. HR confirmed I would be able to use this benefit and congratulated me and my family. Over the next several months, I was given almost no new work responsibilities or clients, even as prior clients and responsibilities would dissipate because they were no longer clients or the companies that were clients went out of business. I even asked my boss once what we would replace a lost client with and she said "Oh don't worry about it." I knew I had one of the lightest books of business amongst my team, but yet for 10 months I did not come up in consideration when new work/clients were brought to our team.

It was ironically not until about a month or two before my termination that she brought anything directly to me, and it was more project based work than client work. One of the primary reasons I was laid off was because I was not given enough work to justify my role to the leadership that was making decisions based on the black and red numbers on a spreadsheet.

Some details that did not feel appropriate to me: My boss asked me if I was going to take a leave, not when or how long - why would anyone in their right mind not take a protected, paid time off to be with a newborn if it is a benefit the company provides to everyone? My boss had known my wife was pregnant for about 6 months prior to this and have never once indicated I should not or could not take a leave, so when this was implied as it was nearly time to submit the HR request, it felt wrong to me.

I had spoken with HR and they had officially approved my parental leave of absence in the two weeks prior to my termination. The HR system officially approved & notified me of my parental leave the day before I was terminated, less than * hours before. If I hadn't been part of a RIF, I would have certainly felt targeted, and while I know there is likely no legal protections I can seek out, the reality is with everything that has happened over the last year I do feel targeted, without what I assume would be considered hard evidence.

We were laid off on */*/*, and my insurance ends */*/*. I have not been given the dollar amount of what COBRA coverage will cost, but am somehow expect to make a decision on this by tomorrow (*/*/*) if I am going to ensure my child and I have continuous medical coverage with no gaps. Ultimately, I'm wondering a few things:

*. Do I consider hiring an attorney to represent me through the severance negotiations, or am I likely to end up losing in the end with the fee the attorney would collect from me? *. If I want to negotiate my severance myself, what is the most likely way to go about it to optimize my likelihood for success? Based on the estimates I have available to me, the severance dollar amount appears equivalent to 2 months of salary and * or 2 months of COBRA Premium cost. *. I've never been in this situation before - with all that you know and have access to knowledge-wise, what if anything else should I be considering as we navigate this challenging situation?

Yes but only if they can speak with me immediately

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Yes I did above

****hew Stein

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No