State file — Hawaii
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In Hawaii, 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 Hawaii state law giving time to consider or revoke a severance/settlement agreement was found.
Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and Hawaii's clock together and gives you the dates.
Restricted - reasonable for most employees, VOID for technology-business employees. Outside the tech sector, Hawaii enforces a covenant only if ancillary to a legitimate purpose / reasonably necessary to protect the employer (trade-secret covenants are expressly allowed by 480-4(c)(4)) without undue hardship. By statute it is prohibited to include a non-compete clause or a non-solicit (employee-solicitation) clause in an employment contract relating to an employee of a 'technology business' - a business deriving the majority of its gross income from software development or information technology development (broadcast industry and telecom carriers excluded) - and such a clause is void and of no force and effect. No general earnings threshold and no general duration cap.
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.
Discharged, with or without cause: pay wages in full AT THE TIME OF DISCHARGE, or, if the discharge occurs at a time and under conditions that prevent immediate payment, not later than the working day following discharge. Different rule for a temporary layoff: if an employee for any reason is temporarily laid off (or work is suspended by a labor dispute), pay wages earned in full not later than the next regular payday.
Unused vacation: Hawaii courts have held payment for unused vacation on separation is NOT 'wages' under HRS 388-1 / 388-3 (case note to 388-3, citing 108 Haw. 411, 121 P.3d 391 (2005)); vacation payout therefore turns on employer policy / contract, not on the final-pay statute.
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.
Hawaii has its own layoff-notice law (a mini-WARN law): Yes - Hawaii Dislocated Workers / plant-closing law, administered by DLIR as the Hawaii WARN Act.
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