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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
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    1

    Default Is Your Employer Bound to a Modified Contract That They Signed Without Reading

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Virginia

    My employer presented me with a severance agreement to terminate my employment. I was given 21 days to review and signed the agreement. I did not like some of the terms on the agreement so I edited the agreement to state terms I found acceptable. My edits were made by retyping the document. There is nothing crossed out or lined through. I presented this to the employer in a face to face meeting and they signed it without reading it. The bottom of each page has our initials (mine and a Human Resources Manager). We both signed the last page. Can I enforce the agreement? How do I enforce the agreement? Is there a loop hole they can claim to get out of the agreement.

    The contract states: "The validity, interpretation, construction, and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Virginia."

    If they do not honor the agreement are they in breach? The breach I am alleging results in over one million in payments and benefits over a five year period. The employer is a corporation with more than 25,000 employees.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: My Employer Signed a Severance Agreement Without Reading It. Can It Be Enforced

    Quote Quoting huntersc
    View Post
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Virginia

    My employer presented me with a severance agreement to terminate my employment. I was given 21 days to review and signed the agreement. I did not like some of the terms on the agreement so I edited the agreement to state terms I found acceptable. My edits were made by retyping the document. There is nothing crossed out or lined through. I presented this to the employer in a face to face meeting and they signed it without reading it. The bottom of each page has our initials (mine and a Human Resources Manager). We both signed the last page. Can I enforce the agreement? How do I enforce the agreement? Is there a loop hole they can claim to get out of the agreement.

    The contract states: "The validity, interpretation, construction, and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Virginia."

    If they do not honor the agreement are they in breach? The breach I am alleging results in over one million in payments and benefits over a five year period. The employer is a corporation with more than 25,000 employees.
    That is NOT something that can be addressed by an internet forum. You MUST consult with a local attorney. I would not even hazard and educated guess.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    1,421

    Default Re: My Employer Signed a Severance Agreement Without Reading It. Can It Be Enforced

    Quote Quoting huntersc
    View Post
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Virginia

    My employer presented me with a severance agreement to terminate my employment. I was given 21 days to review and signed the agreement. I did not like some of the terms on the agreement so I edited the agreement to state terms I found acceptable. My edits were made by retyping the document. There is nothing crossed out or lined through. I presented this to the employer in a face to face meeting and they signed it without reading it. The bottom of each page has our initials (mine and a Human Resources Manager). We both signed the last page. Can I enforce the agreement? How do I enforce the agreement? Is there a loop hole they can claim to get out of the agreement.

    The contract states: "The validity, interpretation, construction, and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Virginia."

    If they do not honor the agreement are they in breach? The breach I am alleging results in over one million in payments and benefits over a five year period. The employer is a corporation with more than 25,000 employees.
    Did you inform them that you changed the terms? Or did you just switch the documentation?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    1,179

    Default Re: My Employer Signed a Severance Agreement Without Reading It. Can It Be Enforced

    I have to agree that the small details will matter and it WILL matter whether you actually brought the changes to their attention. By not crossing out but re-writing, it could be said that you intentionally chose to get them to sign something different than what they thought they/you were signing, especially if you used the same font, size, paper, etc. I bet they will argue that in court that this document was fraudulent.

    But it will also depend on how much you changed and whether you can prove they knew about the changes and whether you had the authority to represent the company in doing so. If the original was written from their perspective and you rewrote the original from their perspective and basically fraudulently claimed to be them in the document, I'd be hesitant to take them to court on it as it could turn around and bite you in the butt big time and you might end up owing them!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
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    98,846

    Default Re: Is Your Employer Bound to a Severance Agreement That You Changed Without Notice

    You appear to be stating that you deliberately chose to change the proposed contract in a way that would lead your employer to believe it was unaltered, and then presented it to your employer without informing them that you had altered the document from their offer to you.

    From what you have told us, at best there is no meeting of the minds and at worst you were intentionally trying to defraud your employer.

    You should discuss the details with a lawyer in your state.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Is Your Employer Bound to a Severance Agreement That You Changed Without Notice

    Quote Quoting huntersc
    View Post

    If they do not honor the agreement are they in breach? The breach I am alleging results in over one million in payments and benefits over a five year period. The employer is a corporation with more than 25,000 employees.
    There is no way to answer that without reading both what they gave you to sign, what you presented to them, what authority the persons signing the form you gave them had in the company, and all the surrounding circumstances. Contracts are about a meeting of the minds; if you represented that what you were giving them was unchanged from what they gave you, that may indeed present a problem for you in enforcing this document as a contract. I strongly recommend you consult a Virginia contract attorney for advice on this. It isn’t something that may be readily solved on an internet message board with minimal facts.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Lake Chapala
    Posts
    3,043

    Default Re: Is Your Employer Bound to a Severance Agreement That You Changed Without Notice

    Reading between the lines, it appears that the OP changed the severance pay amount to something over a million dollars. While I can't find anything in OP's post that indicates how much the severance pay offered actually was, I would guess that it is probably nowhere near a million dollars. OP is probably not going to get anything now.

    And regarding what Taxing Matters said about signing authority, I've never heard of an HR Manager with signing authority of anywhere near a million dollars! The most I've ever had was $25K!

  8. #8

    Default Re: Is Your Employer Bound to a Severance Agreement That You Changed Without Notice

    Quote Quoting huntersc
    View Post
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Virginia

    My employer presented me with a severance agreement to terminate my employment. I was given 21 days to review and signed the agreement. I did not like some of the terms on the agreement so I edited the agreement to state terms I found acceptable. My edits were made by retyping the document. There is nothing crossed out or lined through. I presented this to the employer in a face to face meeting and they signed it without reading it. The bottom of each page has our initials (mine and a Human Resources Manager). We both signed the last page. Can I enforce the agreement? How do I enforce the agreement? Is there a loop hole they can claim to get out of the agreement.

    The contract states: "The validity, interpretation, construction, and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the state of Virginia."

    If they do not honor the agreement are they in breach? The breach I am alleging results in over one million in payments and benefits over a five year period. The employer is a corporation with more than 25,000 employees.
    Google "meeting of the minds". It's essential, and you're screwed.



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