Do I have to sign a severance agreement on the spot?

A severance agreement is a contract: money in exchange for your release of legal claims. Contracts signed under artificial deadline pressure are exactly what courts scrutinize — which is why the EEOC's guidance makes real consideration time a core requirement of a valid age-claim waiver.

If you're 40+, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act sets minimums: at least 21 days to consider an individual agreement, 45 days in a group program (with written disclosure of who was selected, their ages and titles), a 7-day revocation window after signing, written advice to consult an attorney, and a waiver that names the ADEA specifically. An agreement missing any element doesn't validly waive your age claims — even signed.

Whatever your age, you can ask for time, take the document to a lawyer, and negotiate — severance amounts, reference language, and the scope of the release are all negotiable, and asking doesn't forfeit the offer in any legal sense. And no agreement, at any age, can take away your right to file or participate in an EEOC charge.