• Federal law provides a worker with rights after termination.you're fired image by Lisa Turay from Fotolia.com
  
  Federal laws regulate the termination of an employment contract. The former employee may be able to keep a health care plan, or transfer it to a new employer. Anti-discrimination laws prohibit firing employees who are in protected classes for reasons that federal law prohibits. Employees also have rights that relate to the payment of their last paychecks, as well as rights pertaining to severance agreements.
  
  

Mass Layoffs

• The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act is a federal law that regulates mass layoffs. According to the Department of Labor, an employer must provide 60 days notice of the upcoming layoff if certain conditions apply. The company must have more than 100 employees who work at least 20 hours per week, and who normally work at least half of the months of the year. The act covers plant closings, mass layoffs and business shutdowns.
  
  

Discrimination

• Labor laws prevent discrimination against protected classes. This means that a company cannot specifically fire workers because of their nationality, race, religion, sex or age. A worker who reports crimes the employer commits, a whistleblower, also receives federal protection against termination according to the Department of Labor.
  
  

Veteran Rights

• Veterans receive protection under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. An employee who is a member of the National Guard or another uniformed service including health and disaster response may receive a call to fulfill federal duties. The federal government prohibits termination of an employee because the employer knows that the employee will soon work in the uniformed services, or is eligible to be called up.
  
  

Final Pay and Severance

• Employees may receive pay after termination. According to the Small Business Administration, an employer is not required to pay the worker the last paycheck immediately after termination. The federal government does not require severance pay. The federal government does regulate severance agreements. When an employer offers an older worker (age 40 or older) a severance agreement after termination, the older worker gets 21 days to look over the agreement and 7 days to cancel a signed agreement. The severance agreement is required to be easy for the older worker to understand, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
  
  

Health Insurance

• Federal laws provide some employees an opportunity to retain health benefits after termination. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 requires employers to provide covered employees access to temporary health insurance coverage after termination. According to the Small Business Administration, federal law allows employers to charge a premium of up to 150 percent of the employer's cost for 11-month extended disability coverage.