severance agreement
1
5.5
- noun
- /ˈsɛvərəns əˈɡriːmənt/
- Formal
:
acuerdo de separación
- He signed a severance agreement that included several months of salary and health benefits.
Examples
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The employee received a severance agreement that outlined her compensation after leaving the firm.
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So I had Warren draft up a severance agreement.
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The severance agreement includes cash payoffs over time... and continuing medical coverage.
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He has negotiated literally thousands of severance agreements.
Blog text (26) -
Now, I know you understood the nature of the confidentiality portion... of your severance agreement with Brown &Williamson.
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Before departing, the manager negotiated a severance agreement ensuring a smooth transition and financial support.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'severance' (termination/ending of the employment relationship) combined with 'agreement' (a contract) yields a contract concerning termination and its terms. This noun+noun pattern ('X agreement' = an agreement about X) is regular in English and common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
The noun severance agreement comes from the image of cutting a tie: severance comes from the old word 'sever', which means 'to cut off' or 'end', and agreement means a deal between two sides. So a severance agreement is a written deal about how someone will leave a job, often with money or other benefits.