New Hampshire Severance Pay Laws (2026): Is Severance Required?

No. New Hampshire law does not require an employer to pay severance. Two state rules still matter if you lose your job: RSA 275:43, V treats severance pay as wages when it is a matter of employment practice or policy, and RSA 275-F, New Hampshire's own WARN Act, requires 60 days of notice before a plant closing or mass layoff, with back pay owed if the employer skips it.

So whether you are owed severance depends on what your employer promised. If a handbook, written policy or consistent practice provides it, the state wage law gives you a way to collect it. For how other states handle severance and the full federal rules, see our severance pay laws by state guide.

Information last verified on October 8, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers New Hampshire law on severance: the wage-payment law in RSA chapter 275, the New Hampshire Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (RSA 275-F) and the unemployment rules in RSA 282-A, with short notes on the federal rules that apply in New Hampshire. It does not cover when your last regular paycheck is due; see New Hampshire final paycheck laws. It does not cover benefit amounts or how to file for unemployment; see New Hampshire unemployment benefits.

Is severance required in New Hampshire?

No statute requires it. We read the full text of RSA chapter 275 (Protective Legislation), all of RSA 275-F (the state WARN Act) and RSA 282-A (unemployment compensation), and checked the other chapters of Title XXIII. The only provision that uses the word severance in chapter 275 is RSA 275:43, V, and it does not require any employer to have a severance policy.

Our search covered the labor title. We did not search public-employee personnel statutes or every bill filed in 2025 and 2026, so treat this as a finding from what we reviewed.

Federal law adds nothing here: the U.S. Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require severance pay, which is a matter of agreement between employer and employee. A layoff, a firing or a closing therefore carries severance in New Hampshire only if a policy, practice or contract promises it. The one compulsory payment tied to layoffs is WARN back pay, covered below, and it is liability for missing notice rather than severance.

When promised severance counts as wages

RSA 275:43, V brings policy-based severance inside the state wage-payment law:

"Vacation pay, severance pay, personal days, holiday pay, sick pay, and payment of employee expenses, when such benefits are a matter of employment practice or policy, or both, shall be considered wages pursuant to RSA 275:42, III, when due." (RSA 275:43, V)

The limiting words are "a matter of employment practice or policy." A handbook severance schedule or a practice of paying departing workers on a set formula fits that language. If your severance was negotiated only for you, the statute's text does not say whether it is wages, and a claim on it may be a contract claim instead.

Once severance is wages, the wage-payment subdivision applies to it:

• No release as a price of payment. The employer must pay wages it concedes are due without condition, and "any release required by an employer as a condition of payment shall be in violation of this subdivision and shall be null and void" (RSA 275:45, II). Accepting the conceded amount does not release the rest.
• No private opt-out. "No provision of this subdivision may in any way be contravened or set aside by private agreement" (RSA 275:50, I).
• A state claim process and a court route. You can file a wage claim with the Department of Labor or sue, as described next.

When severance must be paid

RSA 275:43, V makes policy severance wages "when due" but does not say when that is. New Hampshire's final-pay rule in RSA 275:44 requires full payment within 72 hours of a discharge and by the next regular payday after a layoff. We found no statute, rule or decision saying whether policy severance falls under that clock or is due on the date the policy itself sets.

The answer matters for penalties. Under RSA 275:44, IV, an employer that willfully and without good cause fails to pay wages under the final-pay rules owes liquidated damages of 10 percent of the unpaid wages per day (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) or an amount equal to the unpaid wages, whichever is smaller. Whether that reaches late severance depends on the open timing question.

How to claim unpaid severance in New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Department of Labor handles wage claims, including claims for severance that is wages under RSA 275:43, V:

• Deadline. File no later than 36 months from the date the wages were due (RSA 275:51, V).
• Employer response. Since July 7, 2026 (2026 N.H. Laws ch. 50), the employer has 20 days from receiving notice of the claim to file objections (RSA 275:51, V).
• Decision and appeal. If the employer does not object within 20 days, the commissioner may order payment as claimed. If a hearing is requested, a written decision issues within 30 days after it, and a party may appeal to the superior court within 20 days, on questions of law only (RSA 275:51, V).

You can also sue in any court of competent jurisdiction, and the court may award costs and reasonable attorney's fees (RSA 275:53, I, III). The commissioner may take an assignment of unpaid wages and sue on your behalf (RSA 275:53, II). A willful violation of RSA 275:43 or 275:44 is a misdemeanor (RSA 275:52).

The Department's wage-claim route is tied to severance that is a matter of practice or policy. A severance promise that rests only on an individually negotiated contract may have to be pursued as a contract claim in court.

New Hampshire's WARN Act: notice and back pay

New Hampshire's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, RSA 275-F:1 to 275-F:12, took effect January 1, 2010 (2009 N.H. Laws 325:1). It is the only New Hampshire law that attaches a payment to a layoff, and the payment is owed only when the employer fails to give notice.

Who is covered

An employer is covered if it employs in New Hampshire 100 or more employees, not counting part-time employees, or 100 or more employees who together work at least 3,000 hours a week, not counting overtime (RSA 275-F:2, IV). A part-time employee is one who averages fewer than 20 hours a week or was employed for fewer than 6 of the prior 12 months (RSA 275-F:2, VII).

Two events trigger the law:

• Plant closing. A permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site, or of facilities or operating units within it, that causes an employment loss for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees, in any 30-day period (RSA 275-F:2, VIII).
• Mass layoff. A reduction that is not a plant closing and causes an employment loss at a single New Hampshire site within 30 days for at least 250 employees, or for at least 25 employees if they make up at least 33 percent of the employer's full-time employees, in each case excluding part-time and seasonal employees (RSA 275-F:2, VI).

An employment loss is a termination other than a discharge for cause, a voluntary departure or a retirement; a layoff longer than 6 months; or a cut in hours of more than 50 percent in each month of a 6-month period (RSA 275-F:2, V). Smaller losses within 90 days can be added together (RSA 275-F:6).

How New Hampshire differs from federal WARN

Because New Hampshire's mass-layoff trigger is far lower, a layoff of 25 to 49 workers can require notice under state law even when federal WARN does not apply. The two notices run concurrently with any notice required by contract or other law (RSA 275-F:3, V), and New Hampshire reads its statute consistently with federal WARN where the provisions are the same (RSA 275-F:12). Our severance pay laws by state guide covers federal WARN in full.

Notice and its exceptions

The Department of Labor's rule requires the notice to go by first-class mail and to list the site name and address, a company contact, whether the action is permanent or temporary, whether the whole plant is affected, and the expected date of the first separation or the separation schedule (N.H. Admin. R. Lab 1703.03).

An employer may give less notice if the company was faltering, the cause was not reasonably foreseeable, the job was a temporary facility or project, the cause was a physical calamity, natural disaster, terrorism or war, or the action was a strike or lockout (RSA 275-F:4). An employer relying on an exception must give as much notice as practicable with a statement of the basis.

What the employer owes for missing notice

An employer that orders a plant closing or mass layoff without the required notice is liable to each employee who was entitled to notice and lost employment for (RSA 275-F:8, I):

• back pay at the higher of the employee's average regular rate over the last 3 years or final regular rate;
• the value of benefits, including medical expenses that would have been covered; and
• costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

The liability runs for each day of the violation, up to 60 days or half the number of days the employee was employed, whichever is smaller (RSA 275-F:8, II). It is reduced by wages paid during the violation period, voluntary and unconditional payments the employer was not legally required to make, third-party benefit payments for that period, and any federal WARN liability paid (RSA 275-F:8, III).

Watch out: A voluntary payment from your employer at a layoff can be credited against what it owes for missing New Hampshire notice (RSA 275-F:8, III). A check labeled severance does not necessarily add to the WARN amount.

Unemployment benefits neither reduce the liability nor are reduced by it (RSA 275-F:8, V). The commissioner may reduce the amount for an employer that acted in good faith (RSA 275-F:8, VI).

Enforcement and penalties

The Commissioner of Labor determines liability, penalties and exceptions under the Act and may examine the employer's books (RSA 275-F:7). The Department holds a lien on the employer's business revenues and property for the amount owed (RSA 275-F:8, I(d)), and the Attorney General may seek restitution (RSA 275-F:8, VII). Employees or their union may sue in superior court (RSA 275-F:8, IX). A state court cannot stop the closing or layoff itself (RSA 275-F:8, VII).

The commissioner may also impose a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for failing to notify the commissioner, plus up to $100 per employee for each day of noncompliance. The penalty does not apply if the employer pays every affected employee the RSA 275-F:8 amount within 3 weeks of ordering the closing or layoff (RSA 275-F:9, I). Decisions under the Act can be appealed under RSA 541 (RSA 275-F:10).

We could not open the Department of Labor's own WARN web page, so confirm filing details with the Department directly.

Severance and New Hampshire unemployment benefits

Severance can reduce your weekly unemployment benefit. For deciding whether you are totally or partially unemployed, RSA 282-A:14, III(a) counts as wages "payments in lieu of notice, a sickness or separation allowance, payment of accrued leave or sums of whatever type or nature." Your weekly benefit is reduced by wages and earnings above 30 percent of your weekly benefit amount, and the payment is applied to whatever week or weeks the commissioner finds it reasonably covers.

The same paragraph excludes a payment made because of a permanent separation, for reasons other than retirement, under a prior existing plan maintained by employer contributions that vested in you before the separation date. Whether a particular package falls under that exclusion turns on how it was set up.

Two other rules protect claimants. Any agreement to waive, release or commute your rights to unemployment benefits is void (RSA 282-A:157). And if you later receive a back-pay award, settlement or verdict covering a period when you drew benefits, the employer must repay the fund for those benefits (RSA 282-A:14, III(b)).

We could not open New Hampshire Employment Security's claimant guidance on severance. Report any severance when you file and ask the agency how it will be applied; our New Hampshire unemployment benefits page covers eligibility and amounts.

What a New Hampshire severance agreement can and cannot require

New Hampshire's limits come from the wage law and the unemployment law:

• Conceded wages cannot be held hostage. A release required as a condition of paying wages the employer concedes are due is null and void (RSA 275:45, II).
• The wage-payment rules cannot be signed away by private agreement (RSA 275:50, I).
• Unemployment rights cannot be waived (RSA 282-A:157).

RSA 275:41-b bars an employer from requiring, as a condition of employment, that an employee not disclose wages or paid benefits. Its words address conditions of employment, not separation agreements.

We found no New Hampshire statute in chapter 275 that limits nondisclosure or non-disparagement clauses in separation agreements, requires advice to consult a lawyer, or sets a state review or revocation period. We could not open the merged text of RSA 354-A (the Law Against Discrimination) and did not check RSA 281-A (workers' compensation settlements), so this is not a confirmed absence for those chapters.

Non-compete terms in a severance agreement

If you earn an hourly rate at or below 200 percent of the federal minimum wage, a non-compete in your severance agreement is void and unenforceable (RSA 275:70-a, II(b)). For higher earners, enforceability turns on other New Hampshire non-compete law, which this page does not cover.

Federal limits that also apply

These federal rules apply in New Hampshire; our severance pay laws guide explains each:

• Workers 40 and older. A release of federal age-discrimination claims must give you at least 21 days to consider it (45 days in a group layoff) and 7 days to revoke it after signing (29 U.S.C. 626(f)).
• Sexual harassment and assault. Under the Speak Out Act, a nondisclosure or non-disparagement clause agreed to before such a dispute arises cannot be enforced in court when the conduct is alleged to violate federal, tribal or state law (42 U.S.C. 19403).
• Labor-law rights. The NLRB's McLaren Macomb decision, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), bars severance agreements that require employees to broadly give up their National Labor Relations Act rights. The NLRB's General Counsel is arguing to overrule it in Valley Radiology, P.A. (10-CA-324512), an open case, so the decision remains Board law until the Board acts.

Reading a New Hampshire severance offer

Find the source of the promise first. If severance comes from a handbook, written policy or consistent practice, keep a copy, because RSA 275:43, V makes that severance wages and opens the 36-month wage-claim route. If the employer is asking you to sign a release, check whether any of the money is wages it already concedes it owes; RSA 275:45, II bars conditioning that payment on a release. Our severance pay laws guide has general guidance on reading and negotiating an offer.

Recent New Hampshire changes

We found no 2026 bill on severance, separation-agreement nondisclosure terms or RSA 275-F. We could not enumerate the General Court's bill index and did not check bills prefiled for 2027, so check the legislature's bill pages before relying on the absence of a change.

Related

• Severance pay laws by state
• New Hampshire final paycheck laws
• New Hampshire unemployment benefits
• New Hampshire at-will employment laws

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about New Hampshire severance pay law (the wage-payment law in RSA chapter 275, the New Hampshire WARN Act, RSA 275-F, and the unemployment rules in RSA 282-A) and the federal laws that apply in New Hampshire. It is not legal advice. The information was verified on October 8, 2026. For advice about your situation, contact the New Hampshire Department of Labor, a legal aid office or a lawyer licensed in New Hampshire.

Last updated: October 8, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is severance pay required by law in New Hampshire?

No. We found no severance mandate in RSA chapter 275 or the rest of Title XXIII. Severance is owed only if an employer policy, practice or contract promises it; under RSA 275:43, V, policy-based severance is then treated as wages.

Does New Hampshire have its own WARN Act?

Yes. RSA 275-F requires employers with 100 or more New Hampshire employees to give 60 days of written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff to affected employees, the Commissioner of Labor, the Attorney General and local officials (RSA 275-F:3).

What happens if a New Hampshire employer does not give WARN notice?

It is liable to each affected employee for back pay and benefits for each day of the violation, up to 60 days or half the days employed, whichever is smaller, plus costs and attorney's fees (RSA 275-F:8). The Commissioner may also impose a civil penalty of up to $2,500 plus up to $100 per employee per day (RSA 275-F:9).

Is severance considered wages in New Hampshire?

Yes, when it is a matter of employment practice or policy. RSA 275:43, V lists severance pay among the benefits that are wages under RSA 275:42, III when due.

Does severance affect unemployment in New Hampshire?

It can. RSA 282-A:14, III(a) counts payments in lieu of notice and a separation allowance as wages for unemployment purposes, applied to the weeks the commissioner finds they cover. Payments for a permanent separation under a prior plan that vested before you left are excluded.

Can my employer make me sign a release to get my severance in New Hampshire?

For wages the employer concedes it owes, no: RSA 275:45, II makes any release required as a condition of that payment null and void. For a negotiated severance offer, federal rules apply to releases of age claims if you are 40 or older (29 U.S.C. 626(f)).

How long do I have to file an unpaid severance claim in New Hampshire?

A wage claim with the Department of Labor must be filed no later than 36 months from the date the wages were due (RSA 275:51, V). That route covers severance that is wages under RSA 275:43, V.

How long do I have to sign a severance agreement in New Hampshire?

We found no New Hampshire statute setting a review or revocation period. If you are 40 or older, federal law gives you at least 21 days to consider a release of age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and 7 days to revoke after signing (29 U.S.C. 626(f)).