Throughout the settlement process, the executive and the employer have different interests in expediting the process. While the executive is often eager to complete the agreement and reap the rewards, the employer is often interested in delaying the need to write a large check. In order to induce the employer to expedite the process, the executive's counsel must get a firm commitment from the employer as to the timing of the process. The executive's counsel can also build strong financial incentives into the settlement to encourage the employer to make payments on time, including a provision for high interest rates on the settlement proceeds beginning on a specified date, such as ten days after the broad terms of the agreement are in place. Another tactic is to require that the settlement proceeds be deposited into an interest-bearing escrow account held by the employer of the employer's counsel, with the interest going to the executive. This removes any incentive for the employer to delay writing the final settlement check.

>> Back to Severance Pay