The judge presiding over the case acknowledged in a recent memo that an agent who did not sign the waivers was “substantially worse off” than an Allstate agent who was simply fired as part of a staff reduction. That employee would have been eligible for severance of up to 52 weeks, far more than the 13 weeks offered.

By calling the program a group reorganization, the company was able to avoid providing employees who did not sign the release severance of up to 52 weeks’ pay, Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in an April 7 memo. Yet the judge said that Allstate’s cost-cutting program was just a staff reduction in disguise. He did not rule on whether Allstate’s actions were illegal, but did note that it was “self-serving and, from most perspectives, underhanded.”

Agents who signed the release and chose to work as contractors would generally get a $5,000 bonus and higher commissions, according to those with knowledge of the terms. Those who signed could also have chosen to sell their business or receive enhanced severance of up to 52 weeks of commission paid over two years.

The agents also said that Allstate made a series of misrepresentations. For instance, the agents said the company told them when they signed the release that it had no plans to cut commission rates. But the company’s documents show that it was planning to cut certain commissions, and it did reduce some of them in 2003, according to Judge Buckwalter, who ruled in February that the case should go to trial.

The agents also claimed that Allstate said they would have the opportunity to take other positions — such as in claims or underwriting — which would have allowed them to keep their benefits. But in 2000, while severance was being received, Allstate imposed a one-year hiring moratorium, which meant the agents could not be rehired. In 2009, Allstate paid 90 of the agents $4.5 million to settle an age discrimination suit, related to the moratorium, that was brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“But the biggest misrepresentation was telling them, ‘You may never — not for one year, or two or three — but you may never solicit your former customers, even if you go into vacuum sales,’ ” said Michael Lieder, a lawyer with Sprenger & Lang, and co-counsel representing the agents.

Mr. Harper sold his agency in 2002; he said he did not recoup his costs. After that, he bought and later sold a pizza parlor and worked as an insurance adjuster during hurricane season. He and his wife now run a paper-shredding business and an independent insurance agency in the same building that he bought to run his Allstate agency.