Yes – they are entitled to waive their rights to severance pay. This is provided they are fully informed of their rights and they do so voluntarily with no duress. This would be an odd situation if it were to occur. And it would be equally as odd if an employer were to be “forced” to pay severance pay to an employee who did not want to be paid for whatever reason!!
A distinction should be made between an employee’s legal right vs an employer’s reciprocal legal obligation. In this case…the employee’s BCEA right to severance pay and the employer’s obligation to pay it. If the employee waives his or her right, the employer’s obligation falls away. But the employer obligation does not fall away if the employee does not waive the right.
