Severance Pay Question

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

The company I work for will be closing early next year and has advised that everyone in my department is being let go as of October 1, 2004. Other departments will close down as of January 2004 or March 2004. I had been scheduled to go out on maternity leave at the end of October. All of the other employees in my department are losing benefits as of October 1st and being offered severance pay of 1 week of pay for each full year of employment with the company.

My employer has offered to keep me actively employed through October until I need to go out on maternity leave (8 weeks pay with benefits) and then I will lose my benefits and be laid off after my leave expires. My employer has stated that since they are being more generous with me by keeping me employed through October and then paying for maternity leave that they will not offer me severance pay. Their argument is that I am getting "more" than the other employees.

My question is: Must they offer me the same severance package, or are they really doing more for me than the other employees?

They are doing more for you - considerably more.

They don't have to offer you PAID maternity leave to anyone (ever), nor to keep you on as an employee past Oct 1st - the date when all the rest of your group are being terminated. Allowing you to work through the end of Oct. and then extending paid leave with benefits until the date you would otherwise have been able to return to work is extremely generous on their part. You aren't entitled to any of those things. The fact that your employer is willing to provide them to you even though your division is closing down is a gift.

If you'd rather be laid off Oct 1st, receive the severance, and forgo the maternity leave and all they're offering with that, I expect your employer would be happy to oblige.

It's an either-or choice.