If your employer gives you a hard time, Bayer says to hold your ground and tell the manager that it's not reasonable for the employer to ask you to sign something without first reading it.

"Sometimes employers will say, 'If you sign this right now, you'll get your best deal. If you don't sign it, you'll get a worse deal'," says Bayer. "I wouldn't buy into that. Tell them you have to sleep on it. There's nothing that should surprise them about you wanting to sleep on it."

To help you , Bayer recommends consulting your HR manual for information about what kind of severance package you should expect from your employer. That way, you can plan ahead of time what other elements of a severance package (e.g., career counseling, health insurance) you might need.

If you require more information than what's included in the HR manual, Bayer suggests politely asking other employees who've been let go what they received for severance.

When it comes to , Bayer advises negotiating one perk at a time, whether it be the money, healthcare or career coaching, rather than going after the whole package. "You always get more if you look at one thing at a time," he says. "Your mantra should be, 'I just want to be treated fairly.' "