Plain-English translations

Moving your old employer's retirement savings into an IRA or a new plan, so it keeps growing without penalties.

The government health-insurance marketplace (healthcare.gov or your state's). Losing job coverage opens a 60-day window to buy a plan there, often with a subsidy.

Federal laws that protect workers 40+. In a severance, they usually give you 21 days to review the agreement (45 for group layoffs) and 7 days to revoke after signing.

The default in most U.S. states: either you or the employer can end the job at any time, for almost any (legal) reason.

Applicant Tracking System: the software that scans and filters résumés before a human sees them.

A law that lets you keep your employer health plan after leaving, but you pay the full premium (what you paid plus what your employer used to cover). You usually have 60 days to elect it.

When you're still technically employed (and paid) but told not to come in, often during a notice period.

A Health Savings Account: money set aside for medical costs. It's yours and stays with you after you leave a job.

State versions of COBRA that extend similar coverage rights to employees of smaller companies (under 20 employees).

A clause limiting where you can work next. How strongly it's enforced varies a lot by state; some barely enforce them.

A clause where you agree not to bad-mouth the company. Worth asking whether it's mutual (they can't bad-mouth you either).

The part of a severance agreement where you agree not to sue the company, in exchange for the severance pay.

Severance paid out as ongoing paychecks instead of one lump sum. Watch whether the payments stop if you start a new job.

Pay (and sometimes benefits) a company offers when your job ends, usually in exchange for signing a release of claims. There's no legal default amount.

A window, triggered by a life event like losing job coverage, when you can buy a Marketplace plan outside the normal open-enrollment season.

The letter from the state telling you whether your claim is approved, your weekly benefit amount, and how to appeal if denied.

When stock options or equity actually become yours. A 'cliff' means you get nothing until a set date (often one year), then a chunk vests at once.

A federal law that can require large employers to give 60 days' notice before a mass layoff or plant closing, or pay in lieu of notice. Thresholds and state 'mini-WARN' laws vary.