Am I entitled to more severance if I was recruited or induced from secure employment?

The presence of inducement tends to lengthen the amount of one’s notice or severance entitlement. Inducement can take a variety of forms, including the promise of a more senior position, greater responsibilities, higher pay, signing bonus, or the promise of equity. For inducement to occur, the employer would go beyond the normal persuasion to attract the candidate to the job. In other words, but for all the enticements by the employer, the person would not have otherwise left their secure job in the first place.

Not all inducements carry equal weight from a severance perspective. It is going to depend on a lot of things, including:

∙ The employee’s length of service with the prior employer. Did they have a secure job with lengthy service, or was it short service?

∙ The employee’s length of service with the current employer.

∙ Was the employee’s job security with their former employer uncertain?

∙ Did the new employer make any misleading representations about their job security?

∙ Are there signs that the opportunity is not secure? For instance, is there a probation clause in the contract or offer letter.

∙ Is there a termination clause in the contract or offer letter that speaks to termination?

∙ Does the contract also speak to treatment of prior service?