Having an employee sign a separation agreement doesn’t cover you completely. If you offer a severance, a separation agreement and general release is essential to secure the release of employment-related claims. Keep in mind that not all claims can be released by an employee, Including: Wage and hour claims Certain workers' compensation-related claims Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims (courts are split over this issue). Additionally, an employer cannot bar an employee from filing a charge of discrimination (although it can prevent an employee from obtaining related monetary relief thereunder). Because of varying local/state employment laws, employers should be encouraged to seek outside counsel for separation agreement drafting and review. A separation agreement should be clearly written and must comply with local, state, and federal law. Important factors must be considered when negotiating severance and drafting a separation agreement. Modern Business ...

Employee discipline documentation is your friend when preparing for a layoff. Documentation of employee discipline is critical when building a list of potential candidates for a lay off. Employee discipline documentation is one of the most important aspect to adding credibility to recommending an “inflexible” or “weak link” employee for a layoff list. However, it is too often the case that management cannot support its rationale with documented employee discipline. In those instances, the employer's decision about who to include in the lay off can be used by former employees to bolster discrimination allegations. Document your poor performers before considering a layoff. Fighting costly legal battles can quickly offset savings achieved during a layoff. A June 2008 Supreme Court decision has made lay offs even riskier for employers. In Meacham et al. v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, the court determined that an employer must bear the burden of proving the "reasonableness" of factors other ...

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection A performance appraisal system, when properly managed, provides you with a means of measuring, maintaining, and improving your employee’s job performances. Through the job performance appraisal program, your company can: Validate hiring decisions Recognize employees' job performance strengths and weaknesses Identify employees who are ready for promotion or greater responsibilities Assess training needs From a compliance perspective, you should be able to rely on performance appraisals to justify the full range of personnel decisions, including discipline and termination actions. For example, if a performance appraisal reflects poor job performance by the employee and this employee is later terminated, the you can point to the performance appraisal to show the employee was not performing to standards. If, however, an employee with overall weak performance is given a good or even average appraisal, and ...

How to avoid age discrimination issues during layoffs. There are a variety of reasons for an employer to offer severance to an employee who is separating from employment (e.g., to settle threatened or actual litigation, as a goodwill gesture in the event of a layoff), but in virtually all situations, the employer is going to insist that the employee sign a release as a condition to receiving the settlement payment. This article outlines some of the most important issues, specific to age discrimination, employers should consider when drafting such waivers. In all circumstances, it is advisable that outside counsel review all agreements. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) has a list of requirements that must be incorporated into your release. They focus on making sure the departing employee does not waive any right or claim under ADEA unless the waiver is “knowing and voluntary”. This means the release must: Be "written in a manner calculated to be understood ...

WARN act can ruin your layoff plan, are you at risk? Here at Modern Business Associates, we frequently deal with federal labor and employment laws and how they affect our clients. Laws relating to layoffs have been a hot topic lately. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN act) is one such hot legal issue. The WARN act sets forth specific notification requirements for covered employers undergoing certain layoffs. (States including California, Illinois, Maine, and New Jersey have enacted similar legislation expanding an employer's notification obligations.) In part, the WARN act requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide workers with 60 days written notice of: Plant Closings Mass Layoffs Under the WARN act, a "plant closing" is a permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment resulting in an employment loss of 50 or more employees during a 30-day period. Under the WARN act, a "mass layoff" is either a reduction in workforce ...