Severence paid only if train replacement

[WorryWort]

I work for a large company and we've been going through round after round of layoffs. A friend of mine in New Jersey was laid off but they told her they would only pay her severence if she trained the person who would be doing her work after she is gone.

She understands the economy is bad and the reasons for reductions in force, but feels 'violated' by having to stay another x-number of weeks to train her replacement, knowing she will be unemployed. She wants to start looking for work NOW.

Do employers 'have to' pay employees they lay-off severence pay?

If yes, then she could tell them to stuff it and approach the appropriate legal avenues to get her severence. If not, then I guess she can either train the replacement to get her severence, or she can go without severence.

Thanks for the answers. There's really nothing she can do at this point (she was let go in November), but for those of us who are facing another round of lay-offs, it would be nice to know.

 

[WorryWort]

one other thing...

Other employees are being sent home with packages of forms to fill out indicating where they are in their work load - pending items, etc. and also being told, "You don't fill it out, you don't get severence"... it just seems so mean! Can they do that, legally, I mean?

Thanks.

 

[Elvis_is_back]

No employers do not need to pay severance.

It sounds like this company is using severance as a way to get former employees to do certain things - which is 100% legal. Lame, rude and mean but legal.

 

[cbg]

Severance is not required by law in the very large majority of circumstances. In the absence of a contract saying otherwise it is safe to assume that severance is not required under the law.

There is nothing illegal about requiring an employee to train their replacement either. At least it's an employee who's already there. Imagine if they hired someone new and wanted her to train that person.

 

[Beth3]

Being asked to stay to train her replacement might be an unwelcome request under the circumstances but it's not all bad either. (1) That does not prevent her from starting to look for a new job (plenty of people look for new positions while they're still employed), (2) it provides her with paychecks for several more weeks, and (3) it assures her of receiving severance pay, which the employer is not obligated to provide.

I suggest your friend get over it and look at the monetary advantages to her here. P.S. If she acts like a real poop while doing the training, it's quite possible the employer will tell her to "just get out now" and she'll forfeit the severance they're offering - as well as a favorable reference.