Did you sign the severance agreement? If so, then yes, it was enough money.

It’s a crude way to look at it, but ultimately, it’s simply a business deal. Now, whether it’s a good deal for you depends on whether you knew the value of the claims you were waiving when you signed the agreement. That’s one of the reasons you might consult with a board-certified employee rights attorney before signing a severance agreement.

And while the severance pay is usually described in terms of your current pay (for example, “one month of salary”), that’s really just a convenient way to come up with an amount of money to pay you to go away. It’s not salary, it’s a bag of money being paid to you to “go away,” that the company may happen to process through their payroll system like a regular salary payment.

Always keep in mind that in any tangible job decision that affects your pay, benefits or status, a company cannot treat you worse on the basis of your sex, race, color, national origin, religion, disability, or—in most but not all cases—your age if you’re over 40.