Has anyone (recently) successfully negotiated a longer/improved severance package using an attorney?
23 replies (most recent on top)
Real human here who was impacted by layoffs at Cigna.
I did not consult with an employment law attorney but did consider and weigh all options very heavily in regards to negotiating severance.
It's less of a negotiation, more of demands and official documentation of potential litigation - so an attorney is required.
Where i concluded there is potential for getting better severance:
If you are included in a protected class (age 40+ for age discrimination suits and non-white American citizen for race discrimination claims). EEOC claims are very serious and if you fit this mold i would be discussing with an attorney how to leverage opening an EEOC claim to improve your severance.
If you are in a state that does not require employers to pay out unused PTO and you as an employee signed on initially with Cigna with the understanding that unused PTO WOULD be paid out upon termination. Cigna changed this policy prior to the mass layoffs at the beginning of 2026 in order to save the cost of paying out unused PTO in the many states that don't require it. Total bulls**t to reduce agreed upon benefits knowing layoffs are coming. ILLEGAL!!
If you have ever opened a harassment / any claim with HR while employed with Cigna - definitely would be leveraging this.
If you can gather/rally a group of people who were laid off by Cigna who did not sign severance - OPEN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. Tesla has an open class action regarding H1B being favored over American workers during layoffs. This has real merit and I and others have experienced this at Cigna!!
There were other considerations - for those under the age of 40 years old, in my opinion - reverse age discrimination is happening at Cigna. As in a certain number of those impacted during mass layoffs at Cigna are purposefully selected by Cigna to be employees under the age of 40, so that employees older than 40 years old can't claim age discrimination. There is no age discrimination protection for those under 40 years old - but there 100% should be protections so that those under 40 don't become scapegoats. If you want to take up that fight - someone has to be the first!!
based on my extensive research into employment law litigation - class action lawsuits are the biggest concern for giant corporations like Cigna. Hence why they have laid off significantly less of Cigna's indentured servants (H1B visa employees). Cigna owns these H1B workers and can ship them back home so H1B will not do anything collective against the company. P words need to go back home and are no good to any working class American citizen.
I could go on and on - but my side could not stomach the cost mentally and financially that comes with not taking the severance and pursuing litigation.
Eff cigna.
Going back to the OPs question, has anyone actually done this and willing to speak to their experiences? So far, it seems one person did, and the result was "not worth it".
@tj I doubt the lawyers saw it as “wasting their time.” They build into their business model that some first time consultations will not lead to a lawsuit they will be taking on. They make it up from cases they do take on and win.
So, your point is ludicrous and a big fail in trying to discourage others from hiring an employment attorney, or at the very least consulting with one.
“ I personally had six lawyers willing to take my case”
Sounds like you wasted the lawyers’ valuable time.
@p1 Severance negotiations wi NOT take years. Not worth a corporation’s time to fight that long for something as tiny, to them, as an employee receiving more severance. The corporation will settle, for more, long before even one year. Probably will settle within weeks once your employment attorney gets the ball rolling.
The person that posted, was probably HR or leadership trying to discourage you from contacting an employment attorney.
People, I implore you to please consider going after these large for-profit health insurance corporations every step of the way. From a legal standpoint and from a public relations standpoint. There is a reason why certain people are posting to discourage others from spelling out, from hiring employment attorneys, from posting on social media.
They want their agenda to basically temporarily replace American citizen’s with cheaper foreign labor, then replace them with AI.
This is the time, tour one opportunity to speak out. If you squander this time in history, you will have missed your chance at least knowing you had done all you could do.
I am no longer going to keep responding to whomever keeps speaking out with, “what do you think hiring an attorney is going to do?!” They well know or they would not keep asking the question. And we are like a broken record to keep repeating the same responses back to them. Probably arguing with AI anyway.
I highly recommend speaking with multiple employment lawyers. Depending on your state, you may have additional protections. They can review your severance and documents that may be relevant to whether you were treated differently from similarly situated peers based on a legally protected characteristic (emails, texts, etc.). Be very careful not to share sensitive, PHI, confidential, or proprietary information. They can assess the facts and explain the pros and cons of your options.
It’s also worth considering whether you raised your concerns with HR or Ethics and gave the company an opportunity to address them. And if this experience has affected your mental health, considered seeking professional support.
I personally had six lawyers willing to take my case, but I was told litigation could take years. I ultimately chose to focus on my future rather than invest more of my time and energy in that place. Sometimes moving forward is the best decision. Your time and energy may be better invested in a future where your hard work is valued. Or you maybe stronger than me and have the strength to fight for your rights :)
What leverage do you have to negotiate with? Why would they award you more?
@f8 Yes, exactly!
Ask a foolish question…
So not only do you want to lose your severance, but you also want to lose more money on a lawyer?
Am I getting that right?
@ed I leave that stuff to the attorneys. Just lay out the facts and let them advise.
A case on what grounds?
I say fight it! At the very least, have a first time consultation with an employment attorney to see if they think you have a case. There is a reason the other person below keeps trying to discourage you to at least consult with an employment attorney. Cigna, and all of these large for-profit health insurance corporations are ruthless and try to pay people off as much as they can.
And the reason that they don’t just exercise the at-will state and immediately fire people is because they still know they have to have good reason or else they risk lawsuits, and having to pay unemployment, and risk bad public relations.
They are not offering you severance because they are being nice Nd care about you. No, they want to pay you off the least amount they can and then make you sign an NDA to keep your mouth shut and to avoid having to worry about a lawsuit nor having to pay unemployment.
Do you have a employment contract that you signed when you took the position, (usually at senior levels only) that Cigna is now trying to get out of for less of a severance than is spelled out in the contract if it exist?
Are you of a certain age, gender, or other protected status that Cigna is "targeting"? Can you prove it? Normally when they do layoffs, as part of your packet they give you is the EOC counts of the layoffs. They do this so they won't have state EOC officials all over them. They make it "fair".
Do you work in a right to work state? Are you under union protections?
Listen, you can fight this, but unless you have a case, an employer can lay you off for no reason other than cost cutting and re-organization. They do not have to give you any severance. You don't have to take it, but if you do, then severance comes with conditions, If you want an attorney to look over those conditions, go for it. If the attorney and you feel the conditions are too restrictive then you can try to negotiate, but they are under no obligation to, especially if they are on the up and up with the conditions. Im sure they have had many employment attorneys hands on that severance document.
This is doubtful.
Changing the severance policy MIGHT be the only thing that would expose Cigna to litigation regarding layoffs.
It might be possible that they change the policy for new employees, but I think existing employees can expect what the policy says.
I’ve heard that severance packages are being reduced next year; so no more 2 weeks per year of employment. Has anyone else heard that?
The package is the package. Take it or leave it. And if you hire an attorney and you don’t sign within a specific number of days you forfeit.
This would be a bold move.😂
@OP Do you even have a chance against a large corporation when it comes to negotiating severance? I would be curious to hear if anyone has ever decided to get an attorney and was successful from Cigna or any other company. They basically make you sign away your rights when you sign the severance agreement. And they don't give you very much time to consider your options. The choice is to get something versus roll the dice and get nothing. How much extra severance could you possibly receive?
@ae yeah sure bud. Your response is as bad as your advice. Lol
Meant to say Cigna below. Everything else still applies.
@ab Most judges actually work for a living and have little respect for large corporations and cannot be paid off and will usually side with the underdog, just so long as the accusations within the lawsuit has even the tiniest bit of legitimacy.
So, yes, hire an employment attorney. Ignore the clown that is trying to scare you off about all the “better” attorneys that Centene has. Don’t let that scare you. You have a very good chance of Centene settling without even having to go to court, simply because it is not worth Centene’s time, energy, and money to fight it.
🤣🤣🤣 the attorney hopes you hire them. Cigna is a fortune 15 with way better lawyers.
Give it a shot.