Severance in Connecticut: the rules on your way out

Your thinking-it-over clock in Connecticut

Federal rule only - no Connecticut state law giving time to consider or revoke a severance/settlement agreement was found.

Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and Connecticut's clock together and gives you the dates.

Non-competes in Connecticut: generally enforceable if reasonable

Generally enforceable for a typical employee under common-law reasonableness (time, geography, fairness to employer, restraint on the employee's ability to work, public interest) - no general statute and no earnings threshold. Profession-specific statutory limits exist and do not change the typical-employee answer: physicians (and, from Oct. 1, 2023, APRNs and physician assistants) - max 1 year and 15 miles from the practice site, separately signed, and unenforceable if the employer terminates the relationship other than for cause or lets the agreement expire without a bona fide renewal offer (Conn. Gen. Stat. 20-14p); homemaker / companion / home-health-service covenants are void (31-51a line of statutes, per secondary sources).

Why it matters at the exit table: a non-compete you sign on the way out can matter more than the severance check. If the clause would block your next job, narrowing it is one of the most common — and most granted — negotiation asks.

Your last paycheck in Connecticut

Split rule: DISCHARGED employee - pay wages in full not later than the business day next succeeding the date of discharge. LAID-OFF employee (or work suspended by a labor dispute) - pay wages earned in full not later than the next regular pay day. A layoff therefore does NOT get the next-business-day deadline.

Unused vacation: No statutory vacation-as-wages payout rule in 31-71c. Accrued vacation is payable at separation only as provided by the employer's written policy / agreement - Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-76k requires an employer to pay fringe benefits, including vacation, in accordance with its written policy (secondary sources / DOL practice).

Final pay is owed whether or not you sign anything. If the date passes without your money, your state labor agency takes these complaints — and many states add penalties for every day of delay.

Layoff notice in Connecticut

Connecticut has no state layoff-notice law of its own, so the federal WARN Act is the rule: employers with 100+ workers generally owe 60 days' notice of a plant closing or mass layoff (50+ jobs at one site).

Notice failures have their own remedies (back pay for each day of missed notice, in the federal law's case) — separate from the severance agreement, and worth a question if your layoff was large and sudden.