Employers routinely include terms in severance agreements: (1) requiring the fact and contents of the agreement, including the amount of severance, be kept confidential by the signing employee; and (2) prohibiting the signing employee from disparaging the employer, along with its officers, directors, employees, agents, and representatives. These commonly are referred to as confidentiality and nondisparagement provisions. Over the past several years, individual state laws and the federal Speak Out Act have restricted how and when employers are permitted to use confidentiality and nondisparagement provisions in employment agreements. On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continued this trend by issuing an important decision that may fundamentally change how and when employers use confidentiality and nondisparagement provisions.
In McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), the Board examined whether the employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by offering severance agreements to a group of permanently furloughed employees. The severance agreements contained terms prohibiting the exiting employees from making statements that could disparage or harm the image of the employer and further prohibiting them from disclosing the terms of their severance agreements. Unpersuaded by prior precedent permitting the use of such terms, the Board found the nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions unlawful because they...
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - An attorney representing a man arrested following a weekend altercation at a Northgate bar is disputing the allegations outlined in a police report, stating his cli...