Federal wage law does not require severance pay: the U.S. Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act has no severance requirement and that severance is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee's representative). Some view severance as a formal way of asking a departing worker not to hold a grudge; others see it as a reward for years of service. If you have been laid off from AbbVie, what should you do next? The amount can depend on the employer, the employee's position and years of service, but exit packages tend to share some common pieces. Here is what to look for in a severance package if you are leaving AbbVie.

What's in a severance package?

A severance package typically includes salary continuation, health benefits, bonuses and outplacement services, according to the workforce consulting firm LHH. Some employers have also addressed unvested stock, as Google and Microsoft said they would in their January 2023 layoffs.

Severance packages can include a mix of the following:

• Financial compensation
• Extension of health care and other benefits
• Bonus payments
• Accelerated or continued vesting of stock
• Outplacement or career transition services

Health coverage has its own federal rule: if the employer normally had 20 or more employees in the prior calendar year, COBRA generally lets an employee who was covered by the employer's group health plan and loses that coverage because of a job loss for reasons other than gross misconduct, and a spouse or dependent child who was on the plan the day before, elect within a set election period to keep group health coverage for a limited time, and the plan may charge up to 102% of the premium.

If your job loss is part of a mass layoff or plant closing covered by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which generally applies to employers with 100 or more full-time employees, the company must generally give at least 60 days of written notice. If an employer fails to give the required notice, it may be liable to each affected employee for back pay and benefits for up to 60 days, but for no more than half the number of days the employee was employed by the employer, reduced by wages paid for the period of the violation, any voluntary and unconditional payment the employer was not legally required to make, and certain payments made on the employee's behalf for that period, such as health premiums. Some states have their own notice laws with lower thresholds or longer notice periods; New York's, for example, applies to private employers with 50 or more full-time employees in the state and requires 90 days' notice. Neither the Fair Labor Standards Act nor the WARN Act requires severance pay, but some states do: in covered closings, relocations, transfers of operations or mass layoffs, as each state defines them, New Jersey (since April 2023, for employers with 100 or more employees) requires one week of pay for each full year of employment, and Maine (for eligible employees with at least 3 years of continuous service at a covered establishment, one that employed 100 or more people at any time in the prior 12 months) requires one week's pay for each year of service, with partial pay for a partial year, subject to each state's rules.

How Much Severance Do AbbVie Employees Get After a Layoff?

What a laid-off AbbVie employee receives depends on which written AbbVie severance plan or policy, if any, covers the employee, any union contract or individual agreement that covers the employee, any package AbbVie announces for a specific layoff, what those terms say, and the law where the employee works; the AbbVie section below lists what public sources show about AbbVie. Ask HR or the plan administrator for the written plan or summary plan description that applies to you, and use it to confirm the formula. In LHH's 2024 benchmark survey of U.S. and Canadian employers, the most common method, used by nearly 4 in 10 respondents, set severance by a combination of position and years of service, and only 7% used a flat number of weeks per year of service for all employees.

Are performance bonuses included in severance packages?

Whether a bonus that is not part of base salary is paid at a layoff depends on the bonus plan, any severance terms the employer offers and state law. Check the written terms of your bonus plan and your state's wage law. You may be able to negotiate, depending on how the bonus is earned and what the plan's written terms say.

Does unvested stock vest in a layoff?

Whether unvested stock vests in a layoff depends on the company's equity plan and any severance terms. In January 2023, Google said it would accelerate at least 16 weeks of stock vesting for affected U.S. employees, while Microsoft said affected benefit-eligible U.S. employees would continue vesting stock awards for six months.

What did laid-off Google and Microsoft employees in the U.S. get in January 2023?

On January 20, 2023, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said the company would cut about 12,000 roles across Alphabet and that in the U.S. it would pay affected employees during the full notification period (minimum 60 days). Google said its U.S. severance package would start at 16 weeks of salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google, and that it would pay 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time and offer 6 months of health care, job placement services and immigration support. Two days earlier, on January 18, 2023, Microsoft said it would cut 10,000 jobs through the end of the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023 and that affected benefit-eligible U.S. employees would receive above-market severance pay, six months of continued health care coverage, career transition services and 60 days' notice before termination.

Can employees negotiate better severance package terms?

You may be able to ask for better terms, especially if you are not part of a large group layoff. Large companies running broad layoffs may be less willing to make individual exceptions, while smaller employers may have more flexibility. If the offer asks you to sign a release of claims by a deadline, consider having an employment attorney review it before you respond. Draw on the goodwill you have built during your time at AbbVie when you make the request. If a union contract covers your job, check what it says about severance and talk with your union representative before negotiating on your own.

What has AbbVie reported about severance and layoffs?

Knowing what AbbVie has already disclosed about severance and recent cuts gives you firmer footing before you talk to HR. AbbVie's 10-K describes no single company-wide severance plan; management instead approves individual restructuring plans, with charges (mostly severance) of $282 million in 2025, $189 million in 2024 and $132 million in 2023. California WARN notices show AbbVie closing three Alameda County sites, laying off 59 workers effective January 9, 2026, and cutting 85 jobs at its Irvine site effective July 20, 2026. A board policy bars named-executive cash severance above 2.99 times base salary and bonus without shareholder ratification, and its Change in Control Agreements (through 2027) pay that multiple in a lump sum within two years of a change in control. If laid off, ask HR which plan applied to your role.

What about your AbbVie 401(k) after a layoff?

AbbVie Savings Plan vesting and loan rules shape what you walk away with. A participant's own contributions are fully vested from day one; the employer match vests on a two-year cliff, while the ASP+ annual company contribution vests gradually over five years. Plan loans run from $1,000 up to the lesser of $50,000 or 50% of the vested balance, repaid over five years (fifteen for a home purchase); after separation the plan pays out in cash, shares, a lump sum, installments or a rollover, and if you leave with an unpaid loan before your account is distributed, the outstanding balance is subtracted from your distribution. Ask the plan administrator how a loan is repaid after you leave.