Sometimes the dog days of summer produce more than just wilted flowers and overpriced iced coffee. Here are five developments worth watching as we head into fall.
I’ve been sitting on my hands for weeks, wanting to write about something — anything — happening in employment law. The truth is, there just hasn’t been one
It’s been a while since I talked about layoffs on this blog. But if the whispers from employers that I’ve been getting these last few weeks are any indication, we may be entering a new cycle where cuts start to run deep.
Of course, it’s still too early to call but as an Axios
Since the start of the year, a whole bunch of tech firms have been going through a series of layoffs. The New York Times recently did an article about how such layoffs were “shocking” to a whole generation of workers typically Millennials and Generation Z who had never experienced such change before. (Generation X and
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
I suppose that’s the advice parents should be giving to their kids nowadays but it holds true in employment law too.
Take this sample severance agreement that shows up as number one on Google’s search for “severance agreements”.
It’s a terrible agreement.
Yes, it’s simple but it
Imagine, hypothetically, that you are the head of a massive technology company. You decide one day that you want to layoff, say, 50 percent of the workforce tomorrow while offering employees a severance agreement. What should you know?
My colleagues, Gabe Jiran and Keegan Drenosky, did a whole webinar on the subject last month that
Lately, I’ve been talking with more employers about permanent reductions in force.
It’s not fun.
And it’s not something I thought we’d be talking about 3 months ago, and yet it’s not foreign to me either.
In fact, I spent several of my earliest posts here on this exact topic.
As I talk with employers
Before I do a recap, I want to share a hopeful tidbit. My friend Tim plays the bagpipes. For the last few years, St. Patrick’s Day (and the weekend) is his favorite time because his band rents a bus and tours pubs across Connecticut.
Suffice to say, there was no pub crawl yesterday.
But after
Monday, March 16th was brutal.
I kept using that word over and over in conversations with employers who are watching their entire business disappear overnight.
Brutal.
Layoffs — at a scale that I think is difficult to comprehend — are sweeping through Connecticut businesses.
Restaurants? Closed (except for takeout or delivery).
Gyms? Closed.
Movie theaters?
In my prior post, I wondered aloud whether there were some rough waters ahead for employers. Apple recently announced that it would not meet it’s earnings estimates in the first quarter of 2019, in part because of soft demand from China. Other companies are expected to announce some similar issues.
Honestly, I’ve had enough conversations
You do a blog long enough and everything comes full circle. Back in January 2008, I took out my crystal ball and suggested that reductions in force (RIFs) and lawsuits would soon follow.
We all know what happened next. The economy crashed and discrimination claims at the EEOC peaked at their highest levels in more