State file — South Carolina
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In South Carolina, 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 state severance/settlement consideration or revocation statute found beyond the federal OWBPA/ADEA (21 days individual / 45 days group, 7 days to revoke, age 40+).
Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and South Carolina's clock together and gives you the dates.
No general statutory ban or wage threshold. Enforceable if reasonable in time, territory and scope, supported by consideration and a legitimate business interest, and not harmful to the public. SC courts are reluctant to rewrite (blue-pencil) an overbroad covenant, so drafting breadth is often fatal.
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.
Separated for any reason (fired, laid off or quit): pay all wages due within 48 hours of separation or by the next regular payday, whichever the statute's wording produces, and in no event may the next regular payday exceed 30 days.
Unused vacation: 'Wages' under §41-10-10 includes vacation, holiday and sick pay when owed under the employer's written policy — if the policy promises payout at separation it is due on this same clock; the statute does not itself create a vacation payout where no policy promises one.
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.
South Carolina 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.
Back to severance laws by state · the deadline checker