Back in 2021, a change to the state’s unemployment compensation law might have been overlooked. After all, the provisions didn’t go into effect until January 1, 2024.

Alas, the time is now for employers to pay attention.

The state Department of Labor has a whole list of all the changes going into effect but I

Last week, the NLRB issued a landmark decision in McLaren Macomb that is already shaking up how private employers (both unionized and non-unionized) should consider severance agreements.

My colleagues have the full recap of the decision over at our sister blog, Employment Law Letter, from Friday and I highly recommend reading that first.

The key

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

There’s been a lot in the news of late about “outrageous” provisions found in an separation agreement between an employer and an employee, like confidentiality.  Indeed, some proposed legislation would restrict the use of some provisions.  

So I thought it would be helpful to go over what we typically see in a separation agreement.

First

The Dialogue – an occasional discussion between myself and a prominent employee-side attorney, Nina Pirrotti returns today after a late summer hiatus. Today’s chat focuses on employee separations and severance agreements.  Share your own tips or observations in the comments below. As always, my thanks to Nina for sharing her insights here.

Dan: Hi Nina!

So, a couple of months back, I talked about how separation agreements for small employers might not be covered by the federal law that covers such agreements.

After all, since the Age Discrimination in Employment Act only applied to employers that have 20 or more employees, the requirements for a “knowing and voluntary waiver”

As I keep trying new things for the blog, today I introduce an “explainer” video.  You’ve seen them before; it’s a short movie explaining a subject.

Today’s topic is one I’ve touched on from time to time — separation agreements that comply with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.

Let me know what you

Back in February, I talked about how a lawsuit brought by the EEOC against CVS challenging the company’s standard separation agreement could be a big deal “if the EEOC prevails”.

But I cautioned about drawing any sweeping conclusions just then stating: “My gut tells me that the courts are not likely to view the government’s

My good friend, Jon Hyman of the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, probably said it best this morning:

I try to shy away from hyperbole, but OH MY GOD, THIS CASE COULD BE RUINOUS!!!

Yeah, pretty much.

Is the sky falling?

So, if you — like me — have been