Can employers require employees to accept confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations in exchange for severance pay?

Can employers require employees to accept confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations in exchange for severance pay?

 

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Employee reductions and terminations are an unfortunate result of economic downturns. Even during good economic times, many companies face the need to reduce their workforce or terminate the employment of individual employees. In such circumstances, employers may seek to offer...

VIEW ALL POSTS ABOUT: Employee Handbook / Policies, General, Labor Law, Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants

How the NLRA Applies to All Workplaces, Not Just Unionized Ones: Implications for Workplace Conduct Policies, Social Media Policies, and Employee Discipline (Including After the Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision)

 

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When the subject of the National Labor Relations Act (the “NLRA,” or, more succinctly, the “Act”) is broached, employment lawyers often hear a familiar refrain: “The Act doesn’t apply to me because my employees are not unionized.” This widespread belief...

POSTED IN Employee Handbook / Policies, Labor Law

Quirky Question #280: Minneapolis Sick and Safe Time Ordinance

 

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Question: We are an employer that has a few employees working in Minneapolis, and just heard about a new law requiring employers to provide paid sick leave in Minneapolis. Will this apply to us? What are the requirements? And how long...

VIEW ALL POSTS ABOUT: Employee Handbook / Policies, Health Care Industry Group, Leave Issues, Wage and Hour Issues, Wellness and Benefits

Quirky Question # 276: Ex-Employees Gone Rogue

 

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Question: Our company uses agreements to try to protect our confidential and proprietary information. One of our former sales employees recently left us to work for a competing company.  We have evidence he took with him our confidential information about...

VIEW ALL POSTS ABOUT: Banking Industry Group, Employee Handbook / Policies, Health Care Industry Group, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants

Question #274: Opining on Obesity

 

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Question: We have a large meat processing facility in Northern Minnesota. We were recently hiring for one of our positions in the plant requiring work with large mechanical equipment. Because we consider this position to be safety sensitive, we require...

POSTED IN Disability Discrimination, Employee Handbook / Policies, Food & Agriculture Industry Group, General, Health Care Industry Group, Mining Industry Group, P3D Industry Group

Question #273: Crafting a Concrete Non-Compete

 

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Question: Our company uses non-compete and non-solicit agreements that bar former employees from having contact with any client of our company after they leave. One former employee who recently left is now claiming the agreement is invalid because it is...

POSTED IN Banking Industry Group, Employee Handbook / Policies, Food & Agriculture Industry Group, Health Care Industry Group, Litigation Issues, Mining Industry Group, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants

Question #272: Competing in California

 

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Question: One of our company’s employees recently left to start a competing business. We think he started this process while he was still employed by us, and that he is probably using information he learned from us.  We’re in California,...

POSTED IN Banking Industry Group, California Questions, Common Law Claims, Employee Handbook / Policies, Energy Industry Group, Food & Agriculture Industry Group, Health Care Industry Group, Mining Industry Group, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets, P3D Industry Group, Post-Employment Restrictive Covenants