State file — Georgia
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In Georgia, three state rules shape your negotiation: when your last paycheck must arrive, whether a non-compete can follow you to your next job, and what notice a layoff required. If you are 40 or older, the federal clocks (21 or 45 days, plus 7 days to change your mind after signing) apply on top of everything here.
Federal rule only - no Georgia state law giving time to consider or revoke a severance/settlement agreement was found.
Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and Georgia's clock together and gives you the dates.
Restricted by employee category. A post-employment non-compete may be enforced ONLY against an employee who (1) customarily and regularly solicits customers or prospective customers, (2) customarily and regularly engages in making sales / obtaining orders or contracts, (3) has a primary duty of managing the business or a department/subdivision, directs 2+ employees and has hire/fire authority (or whose recommendations are given particular weight), or (4) performs the duties of a 'key employee' or a 'professional' as defined by the Act. It must also be reasonable in time, territory and scope; a restraint of 2 years or less from termination is presumed reasonable in time (O.C.G.A. 13-8-57(b)), and a court may modify an overbroad covenant. No earnings threshold.
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.
No state final-paycheck law. Georgia has no statute setting a deadline for paying a discharged or laid-off employee; in practice final wages are paid on the next regular payday under the federal FLSA baseline / employer schedule.
Unused vacation: No statute treats accrued vacation as wages due at separation; payout is governed by employer policy / contract (secondary sources).
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.
Georgia 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.
Included in the $49 SeveranceDecoded Kit
One payment. Yours to keep. Works for any severance agreement, any state.
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