State file — Michigan
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In Michigan, 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 Michigan statute found giving a general state consideration/revocation period for severance or settlement agreements beyond the federal OWBPA.
Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and Michigan's clock together and gives you the dates.
Expressly permitted by statute: an employer may obtain a covenant protecting its reasonable competitive business interests if it is reasonable as to duration, geographical area, and type of employment/line of business. If a covenant is unreasonable in any respect, a court may limit it to render it reasonable and enforce it as limited. No earnings threshold or general ban. Applies to agreements entered after March 29, 1985.
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.
Statute: an employer must IMMEDIATELY pay a discharged employee all wages earned and due, as soon as the amount can with due diligence be determined. (Michigan administrative rule R 408.9007, as summarized in secondary sources, operationalizes this as payment on the regularly scheduled payday for the period in which the termination occurs, except hand-harvest workers.)
Unused vacation: Fringe benefits, including vacation, are payable on separation only as provided by the employer's written policy or contract under the Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act (see MCL 408.473) — there is no freestanding statutory vacation-payout mandate.
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.
Michigan 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.
Back to severance laws by state · the deadline checker