Severance pay calculatorThis calculator turns salary, years of service, and weeks per year into gross severance, and it shows the weekly and monthly pay inside that result. Notice and a bonus stay on their own lines. A tax line appears only if you type a rate. That line is your estimate, not a tax table, and it does not know your filing status.
The default example is $52,000 a year, 5 years, and 2 weeks per year. Weekly pay is 52,000 ÷ 52 = 1,000. Severance is 1,000 × 2 × 5 = 10,000. Partial years are allowed because a negotiated offer often counts them. A statute may count only completed years.
No US federal law requires severance
The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require severance pay. The Department of Labor says it is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee, or the employee's representative. A handbook, an offer letter, a union contract, or a one-off deal can create a payment the FLSA never imposed. If a plan promised severance and it was not paid, the DOL points to the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
WARN is a different duty. Covered employers generally must give 60 calendar days of advance written notice before a qualifying plant closing or mass layoff. DOL describes the employer threshold as 100 or more employees. That is notice, not a weeks-per-year formula. See severance versus the notice period.
One to two weeks per year is a convention
People repeat that range as if it were a rule. It is a custom, not a federal law. The default of 2 is only a starting value. Set the field to the offer or to your counter. Set it to 0 and the severance line is 0. On a $100,000 salary, one week per year for 3.5 years is $6,730.77. Two weeks per year on the same inputs is $13,461.54. This site does not publish a typical weeks figure.
Country rules we can cite
United States
There is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act for severance pay. Severance is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee, or the employee's representative.
Source: Severance Pay, U.S. Department of Labor. Checked 2026-10-09.
WARN generally requires covered employers to give 60 calendar days of advance written notice before a plant closing or mass layoff. DOL describes the employer threshold as 100 or more employees. This is a notice duty, not a weeks-per-year severance formula.
Source: Plant Closings and Layoffs, U.S. Department of Labor. Checked 2026-10-09.
Canada
For federally regulated employees, the Canada Labour Code minimum is the greater of two days' wages for each completed year of employment, or five days' wages. It applies after twelve consecutive months of continuous employment, and not where the termination is a dismissal for just cause. Most Canadian jobs are regulated by a province or territory, not by this section.
Source: Canada Labour Code, section 235. Checked 2026-10-09.
Other figures for this country are still being sourced. No unsourced number is shown.
India
Under section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act, a covered workman with at least one year of continuous service is not to be retrenched until the employer has given one month's notice or wages in lieu, paid retrenchment compensation of fifteen days' average pay for every completed year of continuous service or any part of a year over six months, and notified the government. This is not a rule for every employee in India.
Source: Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, section 25F. Checked 2026-10-09.
The same India Code page records a state amendment for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and for Ladakh: in section 25F(b), thirty days replaces fifteen days.
Source: Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, section 25F state amendment note. Checked 2026-10-09.
South Africa
Section 41 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act requires severance pay equal to at least one week's remuneration for each completed year of continuous service when an employee is dismissed for operational requirements, or when the contract ends in the insolvency situations the section names. Partial years are not a completed year. Misconduct dismissals are outside this minimum.
Source: Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997, section 41. Checked 2026-10-09.
Notice and severance are different checks
Notice is the warning, or pay instead of that warning. Severance is a further payment for the ending. You can receive one, both, or neither. The notice field multiplies weekly pay by the weeks you enter. It does not decide whether they are owed. If you worked the notice, do not add it again. The bonus field adds the dollars you type and does not guess a percent of salary. If that bonus is already inside the salary figure, leave the field at 0.
What else belongs in the package
Health cover, unused leave, equity, a reference, and the release sit beside the cash. COBRA is usually up to 18 months, with 60 days to elect. Employer-paid months are separate. State leave rules are not published here. Read the release before you sign, and use the health insurance guide for the two COBRA figures.
Rounding, and the tax estimate
Negative inputs are clamped to zero. Weekly pay is annual salary ÷ 52, and severance multiplies that exact value. Displayed money is rounded half up to the cent afterward. On the $100,000, 3.5 year, 1 week example the result is $6,730.77. Rounding weekly pay to $1,923.08 and then multiplying by 3.5 produces $6,730.78. This page does not do that.
Gross severance is not take-home pay. Typing 22 multiplies the gross by 0.78. That rate matches the optional flat supplemental withholding rate in Publication 15 (2026). It still ignores brackets, credits, and the Social Security wage base. Read is severance pay taxed and how to negotiate severance before you spend the gross figure.
Questions
Is severance taxed?
In the United States, yes. Publication 525 says you include severance in income, and Publication 15 (2026) treats it as wages for Social Security, Medicare, income-tax withholding, and FUTA. Withholding is not your final tax. The rate box uses only the percentage you type.
Is severance mandatory?
Not under the FLSA. The Department of Labor says severance is a matter of agreement. Statutory minimums for some workers in Canada, India, and South Africa are quoted below only when this site has a source, and they do not change the weeks field unless you edit it.
How is it calculated?
Annual salary ÷ 52 is weekly pay. Multiply by weeks per year and by years of service. A monthly salary is converted with × 12 first. Notice and bonus are separate lines. Money is rounded half up to the cent after the full multiplication.
Does it affect unemployment benefits?
It can. The rule is set by the state, and this site does not publish those offsets. Ask the state workforce agency before you plan a benefit week around the payment date.
Can I negotiate?
In the United States the figure is a contract term, so a counteroffer is ordinary. Ask about weeks per year, paid health coverage, bonus, equity, a reference, and the release. The calculator shows the dollar gap. It does not know your leverage.
Should I take a lump sum or salary continuation?
Both can be wages. A lump sum may be withheld as supplemental wages. Continuation follows payroll. Publication 15 (2026) describes a 22 percent optional flat rate on supplemental wages, and 37 percent when those wages exceed $1 million in the year. The gross can match while the cash timing does not.