If an employer promised me in informal writing (text message) that I was owed 2 weeks of severance pay and then fails to pay me or present me with any formal contract, is he under any form of legal obligation to get me something?
These were the exact words:
Also it wasn't mentioned in the meeting but you'll be getting 2 weeks of severance pay
The jurisdiction is California.
Contracts do not have to be written and signed on pieces of paper, except in a few cases specified by law. Writing style (ordinary style of talking vs. high-register formulaic language) does not affect the validity or a writing in contract law. You do have something in writing.
What matters most is what he actually said (exact words, not your belief of what it must have meant), and how it relates to any existing contractual obligation. For example if the message says "You're fired, turn your badge in at the desk. I'll think about giving you two weeks pay", that's not an enforceable promise. But your existing contract might say "You get 2 weeks severance pay when we fire you", and that can't be walked by by saying "I'll thinking about it". And it also depends on whether there are any laws mandating severance pay (but California does not have any mandatory severance pay law).
