Your signature on a severance agreement could cost you up to €12,000. That's the warning from labor lawyer Ignacio de la Calzada, who recently saw a client lose exactly that amount by signing a document with hidden "traps."
The Science of Legal Deception
A severance agreement isn't just paperwork—it's a release contract. When you sign, you waive the right to claim any additional compensation, even if your firing was unjust. "Even if the dismissal is unfair, once signed, it's very hard to prove you were under deception or ignorance," says De la Calzada. The key is the "release clause," a legal provision that extinguishes all future claims.
The real-world data is stark: the client lost €12,000 in severance pay by signing without legal advice. According to the lawyer, this practice is "very common" in Spain. Companies exploit employees' lack of knowledge about labor law, especially during the stress of being fired. A 2025 study by the Spanish Association of Labor Lawyers (AALE) estimated that 40% of severance agreements signed that year contained release clauses that could have been challenged, but only 5% of workers consulted a lawyer beforehand. Emotional pressure and the urgency to receive unemployment benefits or immediate severance pay lead many to sign without reading. Furthermore, 70% of dismissed workers do not fully understand the legal scope of the severance agreement, according to a survey by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU).
