California law does not require severance pay, but some employers may use a severance agreement to pay an employee to end the terms of an employment contract early. This pay must be in addition to benefits and wages you already earned. With a severance agreement likely comes a requirement that you waive some of your employment-related rights. You should not accept an agreement without reflection and the advice of a lawyer. By law, you have at least 21 days to consider a waiver in a severance agreement before accepting it. If you accept waivers in a severance agreement, you have seven days after you sign to revoke your acceptance.