State file — North Dakota
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In North Dakota, 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 North Dakota consideration or revocation period for severance/settlement agreements beyond the federal OWBPA.
Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and North Dakota's clock together and gives you the dates.
FULL BAN for employees. 'Every contract by which anyone is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind is to that extent void.' The only exceptions are ownership transactions: (1) a seller of business goodwill (and partners/members/shareholders) may agree not to carry on a similar business within a reasonable geographic area for a reasonable time (2019 HB 1351 replaced the old county/city limit with reasonableness); (2) partners/members/shareholders may agree on dissolution/dissociation or sale of an ownership interest. There is no salary threshold or consideration that saves an ordinary employee non-compete, and North Dakota courts treat non-solicitation provisions the same as non-competes under this section and reject out-of-state choice-of-law/forum clauses used to evade it. Employers are left with NDAs and trade-secret law.
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.
A separated employee (fired or quit — same rule) must be paid all due wages on the next regularly scheduled payday; two secondary compilations state the deadline as the next regular payday or within 15 days of separation, whichever is earlier (one source states next payday only — see notes).
Unused vacation: Earned, unused vacation must be paid at separation. A private employer may withhold accrued vacation pay ONLY for a voluntary separation where ALL of these hold: the employer gave written notice of the payment limitation at the time of hiring, the employee was employed less than one year, and the employee gave fewer than five days' notice. The withholding exception does not apply to fired/laid-off employees.
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.
North Dakota has no state layoff-notice law of its own, so the federal WARN Act is the rule: employers with 100+ workers generally owe 60 days' notice of a plant closing or mass layoff (50+ jobs at one site).
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.
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