If you're 40+ and were just laid off in Massachusetts, three things worth knowing:
1. Your unused vacation is wages. Massachusetts law treats accrued, unused vacation as wages. It must be paid out — "use it or lose it" forfeiture isn't enforceable here. If you were involuntarily terminated, it was due on your last day. Wage Act violations carry mandatory triple damages plus attorney's fees. (Earned sick time is different and generally isn't paid out.)
2. A severance release has minimum legal terms. If you're being asked to waive age discrimination claims, federal law (the OWBPA) requires: at least 21 days to consider it — 45 if it's a group layoff — a 7-day revocation window after signing that can't be waived, written advice to consult an attorney, and something of value beyond what you were already owed.
3. In a group layoff, they owe you data. When a release is offered to a group as part of a termination program, the employer must disclose in writing the decisional unit and selection criteria, plus the job titles and ages of everyone selected and the ages of everyone in that unit who wasn't. Not names — titles and ages. If that attachment is missing, the age-claim waiver may be invalid entirely.
The clock: 300 days to file with the MCAD or EEOC. It runs from the termination, not from whenever severance negotiations wrap up. Don't let a long back-and-forth eat your deadline.
General information, not legal advice — I'm not an attorney. If you're holding a severance agreement, have an employment lawyer look at it before you sign.