Is My Severance Package Fair? The Benchmarks and the Math

Last updated: October 2026 · General information, not legal advice

The short answer: for most salaried roles, a fair severance offer commonly runs 1–2 weeks of pay for every year of service — around 2 weeks per year for managers, and 3–4+ for directors and executives. Overall, median packages are commonly reported around 10–14 weeks total in 2026, down from roughly 19 weeks in 2023. If your offer converts to less than the per-year range for your role, it's light. But the weeks are only the first of four places an unfair offer hides.

Step one: convert your offer to weeks per year

Divide the weeks you were offered by your years of service. That single number tells you most of what you need to know:

Worked example. A manager with 6 years of service earning $95,000 is offered 8 weeks. That's 1.3 weeks per year of service — below the range for a manager. The usual band for her is 12–18 weeks. Her offer's cash value is 8 × ($95,000 ÷ 52) ≈ $14,600; the bottom of her band is about $21,900. The gap — roughly $7,300 — is the size of the conversation worth having before she signs.

Two adjustments. First, short tenures: many employers still offer a minimum package — commonly around 4 weeks — even when the per-year math comes out at 1 or 2 weeks, so a tiny offer on a short tenure is still worth questioning. Second, long tenures at senior levels: executive packages with 15–20 years of service can and do exceed these bands, especially where an employment contract or company policy sets a formula.

Step two: check the other three places a light offer hides

1. COBRA months

Severance cash is taxed and gone; health coverage is the expense that actually bites. An offer of 10 weeks with three months of employer-paid COBRA is worth more than 12 weeks with none — because once the company stops paying, COBRA charges you the full premium plus 2%, commonly several hundred dollars a month for one person and far more for a family. Count the COBRA bridge as part of the package, and treat "no COBRA help" as a gap even when the weeks look fine.

2. The clauses

A strong check can ride on expensive clauses. The ones that cost signers the most: a noncompete that blocks your next job (and may not even be enforceable in your state — California, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming generally ban them), equity forfeiture that cancels unvested RSUs on a termination date set just before a vesting cliff, an open-ended cooperation clause that bills your future time at $0, and a repayment clawback that can reach back into money already paid. Our clause guide decodes each one.

3. The dates and the extras

Your termination date controls more than your last paycheck: it can decide whether a bonus is "earned," whether equity vests, and when benefits end. PTO payout, pro-rated bonuses, and outplacement support are all standard things to verify rather than assume. A package can be at-market on weeks and still leave thousands on the table through a badly placed date.

"But is severance even required?"

Generally, no. Outside of an employment contract, a collective bargaining agreement, or a company policy promising it, U.S. employers usually aren't legally required to offer severance at all — which surprises people, and is precisely why the negotiation is about norms and leverage rather than entitlements. (Notice of a mass layoff is a separate legal question — federal WARN and state mini-WARN laws — and WARN pay is not the same thing as severance.) What "fair" means here is: what employers commonly pay people in your role with your tenure, in 2026, in exchange for the release you're signing.

What to do with the answer

If your number is at or above the band and the checklist is clean, signing within your window is reasonable. If it's below, the standard move is a single, calm, written counter — more weeks or COBRA months first, clause fixes second — inside your review window. If you're 40 or over, that window is protected by federal law (21 or 45 days, plus 7 days to revoke); our 21-day rule guide explains it. And if the gap involves large equity or facts suggesting discrimination or retaliation, skip the DIY route — that's the case the $750 lawyer exists for.