I am an attorney in the U.S. and am interested in hearing. What are you intending to sue for?
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You will never get a class action law suit even started in the US. I have been through layoffs with other big companies especially during the Y2K fiasco. The corporations will pick and choose enough older employees to not trigger a proposed lawsuit due to age, race, country of origin, etc. And check your state laws, most US states are employee at will. Meaning the company is not under any legal jurisdiction to offer any notice or severance. I am over 60, Caucasian hoping to get a few more years work before retiring.
OP is over forty and has some time before signing. Floating trial balloon to see if I should hold out. If we got a class action going others could choose not to sign as well. Strength in numbers.
what are you planning to sue for?
Once you sign your severance, you cannot pursue law suits.
another fact to note is big corporates are not so big that they can buy off and threaten all and every print and visual media. Typically their PR budgets are not very high and I know you of journalists and local media who can take up these opportunities, increase their TRPs as they are not always beneficiaries of these corporations.
I don't know about US. I know folks in Bangalore. I know a lawyer from National Law School who worked formerly in the Supreme Court of India who takes up cases against big corporates. Last year he fought with Cisco on an employee retrenchment case and nailed Cisco India on a small loophole. Cisco was forced to go for a big out of court settlement amount with the employee.
Usually the legal cell in the company ensure all ends are tied and they work out the layoff scheme within bounds of the legal laws of the land. However there can be cases of discrimination and abuse which if taken up by astute lawyers can really be a pain in the rear for these companies. Local HRs are typically not geared for such cases. The typical behavior of employees that companies assume is that they are meek, take their severance and move on finding new jobs. Nobody likes legal hassles. However with so many companies laying off workers there is a brewing Labor movement in India. Companies are also protective of their reputation and will have much to lose if some local media and social media news go viral. Best of luck.
Good luck. Hope you find one. It is not easy to fight big corporates.