employer trying to get out of severance contract

[splashday]

California State; My employer filed for Chapter 11 several months ago and after a couple months of being in C11, they filed papers with the court to offer some employees a severance package. They told us we had been identified as key employees to help the company through the transition and if we stayed on and then got terminated or weren't offered a "similar job with similar pay" then we'd get a severance package. As it turns out the company is closing down and now the executives are trying to find ways to NOT pay employees their severance. Here's my question. Do you think they can cut our salary in half and then lay us off such that our severance is based on the new (lower) salary?

 

[cbg]

Unless you have a contract guaranteeing you severance at a particular rate, they can do anything they want, including not offering severance at all. Severance is not mandated by law.