State file — Maryland
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In Maryland, 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 Maryland 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 Maryland's clock together and gives you the dates.
A non-compete/conflict-of-interest provision is null and void as against public policy for any employee earning at or below 150% of the state minimum wage. With the state minimum wage at $15.00/hour, that threshold is $22.50/hour (about $46,800/year full-time) in 2026. Secondary sources also report statutory bans/caps added for certain health care providers (void at or below $350,000 for direct-patient-care providers; 1-year cap above) and a total ban for licensed veterinary practitioners/technicians. Above the wage threshold, non-competes remain subject to common-law reasonableness.
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.
Pay all wages due for work performed before termination on or before the day the employee would have been paid if employment had not terminated — i.e., the next regular payday. Same rule for fired, laid-off, or quit.
Unused vacation: An employer need NOT pay accrued leave at termination if it has a written policy limiting compensation of accrued leave, it notified the employee of the leave benefits as required by 3-504(a)(1), and the employee is not entitled to payment under that written policy. If there is no such qualifying written forfeiture policy, accrued leave is due.
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.
Maryland has its own layoff-notice law (a mini-WARN law): Maryland Economic Stabilization Act ('mini-WARN'): employers operating an industrial, commercial, or business enterprise in Maryland for at least 1 year with 50+ employees must give at least 60 days' written notice before a 'reduction in operations' — a shutdown or relocation of part of a workplace that reduces the employee count by the greater of at least 25% or 15 employees over a 3-month…
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