Release & Severence?

My atty recommended to have ee's sign a R&S (1 week pay)that terminate employement for any reason. I have a 4 year ee that just gave his 2-week notice and I am rethinking this R&S process. I get a feeling that the doc implies wrongdoing.

What are your thoughts on this?

Comments

  • 3 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • At worst it serves as nothing more than sleep insurance and at best it will get any sort of suit dismissed later on. Not knowing your past litigation history, exposure, etc it's hard for me to say if this is a good blanket policy. I suppose that if 90% of your workforce was in a protected group, then maybe it isn't such a bad idea.

    Perhaps you could share more info so that the forum can be of more help.

    Gene
  • Sure.

    In 92' we had 4 non-exempt ee's sue for no breaks or lunchs (I could not monitor as they are in the field). It was a get-even thing, and very hard to produce documentation that I denied them breaks/lunches. This drug on for months, and we finally settled to get on w/life.

    We are a professional svcs firm (tech), in business for over 10 yrs. We have 12 ee's, a mix of young and old, exmpt and non-empt that work local and national.

    I'm not sure what "protected group" means. Is it the age group?

    Thanks


  • Great info. I understand your position in '92. Unfortunately, our business climate has turned to one that is so ridden with litigation that oftentimes it makes more sense from both a business and practical standpoint to simply settle for a fraction of the cost of defense.

    I think that given the small size of your organization, the nature of your business and the fact that you are dispersed, it may not be such a bad idea to adopt the R&S. You mentioned being a technical services provider. Perhaps you can also incorporate a non-disclose/confidentiality agreement into your covenant not to sue document if trade secrets or proprietary information is an issue.

    By the way, protected group by definition includes those persons protected under Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964. Most often it includes, but is not limited to, race, ancestry, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, and age 40 or over.

    Good luck. Let us know how things turn out and which way you decide to go.

    Gene
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