{
  "id": "severance-pay",
  "version": "aa5dc660de92",
  "status": "published",
  "name": "Severance Pay Calculator",
  "question": "How much severance pay will I get?",
  "summary": "Estimates severance pay from your pay and years of service under a weeks-per-year company policy, or under the federal employee severance pay formula.",
  "category": "finance",
  "subcategory": "tax-and-pay",
  "url": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/severance-pay-calculator",
  "markdown": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/severance-pay-calculator.md",
  "kind": "function",
  "method": "Company policy: weeks = years × weeks per year, raised to the floor and cut to the cap. Federal: basic weeks = 1 per full year up to 10 + 2 per full year beyond 10 + 25% of the next year’s weeks per full 3 months; weeks = basic × (1 + 2.5% × full quarters of age over 40), at most 52 less weeks received before. Severance = weeks × weekly pay.",
  "assumptions": [
    "No U.S. federal law requires private employers to pay severance; a company policy or agreement sets it.",
    "Weekly pay is annual pay ÷ 52 when you type pay per year.",
    "Federal: you have at least 12 months of continuous service and meet OPM’s other conditions (involuntary separation, not eligible for an immediate annuity).",
    "Taxes are left out; severance pay is taxable wages."
  ],
  "inputs": {
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "method": {
        "title": "Formula",
        "description": "A company policy of so many weeks of pay per year of service, or the federal employee formula.",
        "type": "string",
        "enum": [
          "policy",
          "federal"
        ]
      },
      "pay": {
        "title": "Pay",
        "description": "Your regular pay (basic pay for a federal employee), per week or per year.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      },
      "per": {
        "title": "Pay is per",
        "description": "Whether the pay you typed is per week or per year (a year is 52 weeks).",
        "type": "string",
        "enum": [
          "year",
          "week"
        ]
      },
      "yrs": {
        "title": "Years of service",
        "description": "How long you have worked for the employer, in years (6 months is 0.5).",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 100
      },
      "wpy": {
        "title": "Weeks of pay per year of service",
        "description": "The weeks of pay the policy gives for each year of service, often 1 or 2.",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 52
      },
      "minw": {
        "title": "Minimum weeks",
        "description": "The fewest weeks of pay the policy gives, if it sets a floor.",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 520
      },
      "maxw": {
        "title": "Maximum weeks",
        "description": "The most weeks of pay the policy gives, if it sets a cap.",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 520
      },
      "sy": {
        "title": "Full years of creditable service",
        "description": "Your full years of creditable federal service.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 70
      },
      "sm": {
        "title": "Extra months of service",
        "description": "Months of service beyond the full years, 0 to 11.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 11
      },
      "ay": {
        "title": "Age in years",
        "description": "Your age in full years on the day you separate.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 14,
        "maximum": 100
      },
      "am": {
        "title": "Extra months of age",
        "description": "Months of age beyond the full years, 0 to 11.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 11
      },
      "prior": {
        "title": "Severance weeks received before",
        "description": "Weeks of federal severance pay you received in the past; the lifetime limit is 52 weeks.",
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 52
      }
    }
  },
  "outputs": {
    "severance": {
      "label": "Severance pay",
      "description": "Weeks of severance × weekly pay.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "weeks": {
      "label": "Weeks of pay",
      "description": "The weeks of pay the formula gives, after any floor, cap or lifetime limit.",
      "format": "number"
    },
    "weekly": {
      "label": "Weekly pay",
      "description": "The pay for one week (annual pay ÷ 52).",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "basic": {
      "label": "Basic allowance",
      "description": "Federal: the allowance for years of service, before the age adjustment and the 52-week limit.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "ageAdjustment": {
      "label": "Age adjustment",
      "description": "Federal: 2.5% of the basic allowance for each full 3 months of age over 40, before the 52-week limit.",
      "format": "money"
    }
  },
  "defaultAnswer": {
    "inputs": {
      "method": "policy",
      "pay": 60000,
      "per": "year",
      "yrs": 5,
      "wpy": 2,
      "sy": 20,
      "sm": 0,
      "ay": 45,
      "am": 0,
      "prior": 0
    },
    "outputs": {
      "severance": 11538.461538461539,
      "weeks": 10,
      "weekly": 1153.8461538461538
    },
    "text": "Severance pay: $11,538.46 (10 weeks of pay at $1,153.85 a week)."
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "given": {
        "method": "federal",
        "pay": 1500,
        "per": "week",
        "sy": 20,
        "sm": 4,
        "ay": 45,
        "am": 8
      },
      "expect": {
        "basic": 45750,
        "ageAdjustment": 25162.5,
        "severance": 70912.5,
        "weeks": 47.275
      },
      "source": "OPM, Fact Sheet: Severance Pay (basic allowance, age adjustment and the 52-week lifetime limit; worked example). https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/severance-pay/ (20 years 4 months of service, $1,500 a week, age 45 years 8 months: $45,750 + $25,162.50 = $70,912.50)"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "method": "federal",
        "pay": 1000,
        "per": "week",
        "sy": 30,
        "ay": 60
      },
      "expect": {
        "weeks": 52,
        "severance": 52000,
        "basic": 50000
      },
      "source": "OPM, Fact Sheet: Severance Pay (basic allowance, age adjustment and the 52-week lifetime limit; worked example). https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/severance-pay/ (52-week lifetime limit); hand calculation in content.mdx: 10 + 2 × 20 = 50 weeks, + 80 quarters × 2.5% = 200% (100 weeks), 150 weeks capped at 52"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "method": "policy",
        "pay": 60000,
        "per": "year",
        "yrs": 5,
        "wpy": 2
      },
      "expect": {
        "weeks": 10,
        "weekly": 1153.8461538461538,
        "severance": 11538.461538461539
      },
      "source": "Hand calculation in content.mdx (DOL: severance is a matter of agreement, so the weeks per year are the policy’s): 5 × 2 = 10 weeks × 60,000 ÷ 52"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "method": "policy",
        "pay": 1200,
        "per": "week",
        "yrs": 1.5,
        "wpy": 1,
        "minw": 4,
        "maxw": 26
      },
      "expect": {
        "weeks": 4,
        "severance": 4800
      },
      "source": "Hand calculation in content.mdx: 1.5 × 1 = 1.5 weeks, raised to the 4-week floor; 4 × 1,200 = 4,800"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    "U.S. Department of Labor, Severance Pay (there is no requirement in the FLSA for severance pay; it is a matter of agreement). https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/severancepay (retrieved 2026-10-05)",
    "U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Fact Sheet: Severance Pay (eligibility, basic severance allowance, age adjustment allowance, 52-week lifetime limit, and the 20 years 4 months worked example; 5 U.S.C. 5595 and 5 CFR part 550, subpart G). https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/severance-pay/ (retrieved 2026-10-05)"
  ],
  "related": [
    "salary",
    "hourly-to-salary",
    "salary-to-hourly",
    "pto"
  ],
  "changelog": []
}