You can also break the law while telling the truth in negotiations. For example, if you condition a lawful but harmful action on an unrelated demand (and "unre

You can also break the law while telling the truth in negotiations. For example, if you condition a lawful but harmful action on an unrelated demand (and "unrelated" is very subjective here) from another party you are, in many jurisdictions, committing extortion. (If the adverse action and condition are related, e.g. "I'll sue you if you wrong me", then it's not extortion. "I'll expose your affair unless you give me $100,000" is extortion because there's no connection between the affair and demand for payment, and because the extortionist derives no benefit from exposing the affair.) It's not illegal to write bad reviews of a restaurant, but if you demand a price discount and threaten a bad review, you can be found guilty of extortion. So "I'll write a bad review if you don't give me a discount" might be truthful-- you can lawfully do so, and even have this intent (intent being impossible to prove)-- but you still can't say it. This comes up in severance negotiations. If you say, "I'll [legal adverse action X, such as disparaging the company] unless given $Y", it's very easy to end up on the wrong side of the law. You probably won't end up in jail, but you lose all leverage as soon as you make a mistake, which is easy to do. If you're negotiating for severance, you should always let a lawyer do it. It's also a lot easier to get "soft" terms (positive reference, right to represent oneself as employed, possibly without pay) because those are connected to adverse actions. If you're getting a bad reference, you do have cause to get out in front of the smear and disparage the company. ("We have to get our stories straight. It's best for both of us. Here's what I want, and here's what you get.") But if it's about cash severance, the payment and your disparagement are unrelated enough that it's best avoided.