St. Louis Severance Agreement Lawyer

St. Louis Severance Agreement Lawyer

You have been handed a severance agreement and a deadline. Before you sign away your legal rights, have a St. Louis employment lawyer tell you what it is actually worth.

Riggan Law Firm, LLC represents employees across St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, and the Metro East. From our office in Kirkwood, we review and negotiate severance packages for professionals, managers, and executives who have been laid off, terminated, or pushed out.

On This Page

• What a severance agreement actually is
• What you are giving up when you sign
• How much severance should you get?
• What is negotiable
• Your deadline to decide
• Severance and Missouri unemployment benefits
• Is severance taxed?
• Your final paycheck under Missouri law
• What our attorneys do for you
• Areas we serve
• FAQs

What Is a Severance Agreement in Missouri?

Missouri is an at-will employment state. Your employer generally does not owe you severance unless a contract, policy, or plan requires it. So when severance is offered, it is being offered for a reason: the employer wants something from you.

That something is almost always a release of claims — a legally binding promise that you will not sue. Often it comes bundled with restrictions on where you can work next and what you can say about the company.

In other words, a severance agreement is a transaction. You are selling your legal claims and your future freedom. The only real question is whether you are being paid a fair price. That is what a severance agreement lawyer is for.

What You Are Actually Giving Up When You Sign

Most St. Louis employees focus on the dollar figure and skim the rest. The rest is where the money is. Standard severance agreements include some combination of:

• Release of all claims — You waive wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage, and Missouri Human Rights Act claims. If you have a real claim, its value may far exceed the severance being offered.
• Non-competition — You are barred from working for competitors for a set period. Missouri courts will enforce a non-compete that is reasonable in duration and geographic scope and that protects trade secrets or customer relationships. A broad one can effectively end your career in your field for a year or more.
• Non-solicitation of clients and employees — You cannot take your book of business or recruit former colleagues.
• Confidentiality and non-disparagement — You cannot discuss the terms, and often cannot criticize the company publicly. Watch for one-way clauses that bind you but not them.
• Cooperation clauses — You agree to assist in future litigation or investigations, sometimes without compensation for your time.
• Return of property and IP assignment — Broadly drafted versions can sweep in work you developed on your own time.

Any one of these can be worth more than the severance check. All of them are worth reviewing before you sign.

How Much Severance Should You Get?

There is no formula written into Missouri law. In practice, employers in the St. Louis market tend to open at somewhere between two weeks and one month of pay per year of service, with executives negotiating in months or years rather than weeks. Opening offers are just that — opening offers.

The factors that move the number:

Factor	Effect on Your Leverage
Strength of any legal claim you hold	Highest single driver of value
Length of the restricted period	Longer non-compete should command more pay
Breadth of the restrictions	Broader scope should command more pay
Seniority and replaceability	Executives and specialists negotiate from strength
Difficulty finding comparable work	Narrow field or non-compete means a higher number
Employer’s exposure and appetite for risk	Public companies and regulated employers move faster
Timing (group layoff vs. individual exit)	Individual exits are usually more negotiable

Cash is only part of the package. We routinely negotiate for extended employer-paid COBRA, accelerated or prorated bonus, equity vesting, outplacement services, a neutral or agreed-upon reference, conversion of a “termination” to a “resignation,” and release of or narrowing of the non-compete.

What Is Negotiable in a Severance Package?

Nearly everything. Employers present severance agreements on company letterhead as if they were final. They rarely are. Terms we negotiate for St. Louis clients include:

1. The severance amount — and whether it is paid as a lump sum instead of installments
2. Health coverage — employer-paid COBRA premiums for a defined number of months
3. Non-compete scope — shortening the term, narrowing the geography, or carving out an industry so you can keep working
4. Non-solicitation carve-outs — protecting relationships you brought with you
5. Mutual non-disparagement — making the obligation run both directions
6. Reference language — an agreed statement HR must give to future employers
7. Unemployment — the employer agreeing not to contest your claim
8. Equity and bonus — vesting acceleration, prorated bonus, retention of options
9. Carve-outs from the release — preserving indemnification, vested benefits, and your right to file an administrative charge

How Long Do You Have to Decide?

Read the deadline in your agreement first, then check whether federal law gives you more time.

If you are 40 or older, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requires that any waiver of age discrimination claims give you:

• 21 days to consider the agreement (45 days if you are part of a group layoff or exit incentive program, along with disclosure of the ages and job titles of everyone selected), and
• 7 days after signing to revoke the agreement.

These periods cannot be waived, and an agreement that shortens them may be unenforceable as to your age claims. If you were part of a reduction in force and did not receive the required disclosures, that itself is leverage.

If you are under 40, your deadline is whatever the agreement says — often as short as a few days. Call us the day you receive it, not the day before it expires.

Does Severance Pay Affect Missouri Unemployment Benefits?

It can. The Missouri Division of Employment Security may treat severance pay as wages that delay or reduce your benefits, depending on how the payment is characterized and allocated in the agreement. How your severance is labeled and scheduled in the document can change the outcome.

This is one of the most commonly overlooked drafting issues we see. File your unemployment claim promptly and let us review the payment structure before you sign.

Is Severance Pay Taxable?

Yes. Severance paid for lost wages is generally treated as W-2 wages, subject to income tax withholding and payroll taxes. How a settlement is allocated among wage and non-wage components affects your net, and that allocation is negotiable in some cases. We flag tax structure issues and coordinate with your CPA where it matters.

Can My Employer Withhold My Final Paycheck in Missouri?

No — your earned wages are yours regardless of why you left. Under Missouri law (RSMo section 290.110), an employee who is discharged may request payment of wages due, and if the employer fails to pay within seven days of that request, the employee’s wages continue as a penalty for up to sixty days while the employee remains unpaid.

Two practical points: the request matters — make it in writing and keep a copy — and severance is separate from earned wages. An employer cannot condition your final paycheck or earned commissions on signing a severance agreement. If yours is trying to, call us.

How Our St. Louis Severance Attorneys Help

1. Full review of the agreement. We read every clause and tell you plainly what you are giving up, what is unusual, and what is unenforceable.
2. Claim valuation. We assess whether you have discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower, FMLA, wage-and-hour, or wrongful termination claims — and what those claims are worth compared to the offer on the table.
3. Negotiation. In most cases we negotiate directly with the employer or its counsel, which keeps you out of a confrontational conversation with people you may need as references.
4. Protecting your next job. Reworking the non-compete and non-solicitation language is frequently the highest-value part of the engagement, especially for sales professionals, physicians, engineers, and executives.

Riggan Law Firm has represented Missouri and Illinois employees for more than two decades. Russ Riggan is AV-rated and has been recognized among the region’s Top 50 Lawyers. Learn more about Russ Riggan and Sam Moore.

Executive exits: if you are a C-suite or senior leader with equity, a change-in-control provision, or a complex exit, see our Executive Severance & Strategic Exit Negotiations page.

Areas We Serve

We represent employees throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area, including St. Louis City, Clayton, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Ballwin, Maryland Heights, Florissant, and St. Charles, as well as Columbia, Springfield, and the Illinois Metro East including Belleville and Edwardsville.

Riggan Law Firm, LLC
130 West Monroe Avenue
Kirkwood, MO 63122
Phone: 314-528-9661
Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Related pages: St. Louis Employment Law | Wrongful Termination | Employment Discrimination | Non-Compete Agreements | Executive Severance

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I have a lawyer review my severance agreement?

Yes, especially if the agreement includes a non-compete, you are 40 or older, you believe your termination was unlawful, or the package is worth more than a few weeks of pay. A review is a small step that can protect a great deal of value.

Can I negotiate my severance package?

Almost always. Employers expect counteroffers from represented employees, and an attorney-led negotiation frequently improves both the dollar amount and the restrictive covenants.

What happens if I refuse to sign?

You keep your legal claims and your freedom to compete, but you forgo the severance payment. Whether that trade makes sense depends entirely on the strength of your claims — which is exactly what we evaluate.

Can I still file an EEOC or MCHR charge after signing?

A release cannot lawfully bar you from filing a charge with the EEOC or the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, though it can bar you from recovering money personally. Agreements that purport to prohibit filing entirely are a red flag.

Is my non-compete enforceable in Missouri?

Missouri courts enforce non-competes that are reasonable in time and geographic scope and that protect a legitimate interest such as trade secrets or customer relationships. Overbroad agreements are often narrowed or struck. Note that the FTC’s 2024 rule banning most non-competes was set aside by a federal court and is not in effect.

How long do I have to decide?

Check your agreement. If you are 40 or older, federal law requires at least 21 days to consider and 7 days to revoke — 45 days in a group layoff.