---
name: mohitagw15856/severance-agreement-decoder
source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/mohitagw15856-severance-agreement-decoder@1/SKILL.md
source_sha256: 9246e194490a
---

# Severance Agreement Decoder Skill

A severance agreement is a purchase: the company is buying a release of claims, and the price is negotiable exactly once — before you sign. This skill decodes what's actually being bought and sold, in the week you have to decide, while the shock is still loud.

## What This Skill Produces

- **The trade, stated plainly** — what they pay vs what you release, in one paragraph
- **Clause-by-clause decode** with 🔴🟡🟢 severity
- **The clock** — consideration and revocation windows (age-40+ rules differ), with dates computed
- **The asks worth making** — ranked by success likelihood, with wording

## Required Inputs

Ask for these only if not provided:
- **The agreement text** (paste; partial is workable — name what's missing)
- **The basics:** tenure, role, base pay, unvested equity, and the stated severance amount
- **Rough location** — release enforceability and pay-out rules vary by jurisdiction; never guess it
- **What matters most** — cash, healthcare runway, the narrative/references, or equity

## Framework: What to Walk

- **The release scope** (🔴 zone): claims released vs claims that legally *can't* be released (unemployment, workers' comp, agency charges — jurisdiction-dependent, flag as such); watch for release of *future* claims.
- **Severance math:** weeks-per-year offered vs the informal norms for the role/level; whether unvested equity, bonus proration, and PTO payout appear at all — silence on any of these is an ask, not an answer.
- **The strings** (🟡): non-disparagement (mutual or one-way?), cooperation clauses without time caps, re-affirmation of non-competes (sometimes *new* ones smuggled in — 🔴), confidentiality of the agreement itself.
- **Healthcare:** COBRA-style continuation math — who pays, for how long; an extra month of employer-paid coverage is often the easiest yes in the whole negotiation.
- **The clock:** consideration period (often 21/45 days where age-discrimination rules apply) and revocation window — signing early buys nothing; compute the actual dates.

## Output Format

### Severance Decode: [company]
**1. The trade:** they pay [X]; you release [scope] — worth it? [the one-paragraph read]
**2. Decode table** | Clause | Says | Means for you | Severity |
**3. 🚩 Ranked flags** — each: the quoted line, the realistic cost, the fix to ask for
**4. The money map** — offered vs the silent items (equity, bonus, PTO, healthcare), each: present/absent/ask
**5. The clock** — sign-by and revoke-by dates, computed
**6. The asks** — 2–4, ranked by likelihood, with exact wording ("I'll sign this week if the healthcare continuation extends to six months")

End verbatim: *"This is a plain-language reading, not legal advice — release law varies by jurisdiction; a one-hour employment-lawyer review before signing is usually the best money in this document."*

## Quality Checks

- [ ] The trade is stated as a purchase in the first section
- [ ] Every silent item (equity/bonus/PTO/healthcare) is flagged as present, absent, or ask
- [ ] The consideration/revocation dates are computed, not described
- [ ] Any NEW restrictive covenant is flagged 🔴 loudly
- [ ] Asks come with likelihood ranking and exact wording
- [ ] The lawyer-hour line appears verbatim

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not soften the moment — the reader just lost their job; clarity is the kindness
- [ ] Do not treat the offer as final — it's an opening bid bought with a release
- [ ] Do not present jurisdiction-dependent release rules as universal
- [ ] Do not let "standard agreement" pass unexamined — standard is what companies call their preferred terms
- [ ] Do not advise signing or refusing — decode, price, and hand the decision back with dates