&gt; The main reason why severance is offered is to keep people from portraying the company in a bad light. If anti-disparagement clauses were made illegal, fewer companies would offer severance.<p>Then let&#x27;s make anti-disparagement clauses illegal and severance packages mandatory.<p>Companies afraid of bad press may then be motivated to be <i>even more</i> generous than they would have otherwise.  Not only would they have to pay you enough to sign, they&#x27;d have to pay you enough to make you happy enough that you don&#x27;t speak against them.  They&#x27;d only have a carrot but no stick.<p>Frankly, if a company doesn&#x27;t want to be portrayed in a bad light, it should endeavor to avoid doing things worthy of disparagement.