Employers will need to rethink the terms they include in severance agreements under the National Labor Relation Board’s (“NLRB”) ruling issued in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023). According to the February 21, 2023 decision, an employer violates the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and commits an unfair labor practice by offering a severance agreement containing certain confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions. Importantly, this decision applies to employers who are unionized, as well as those who do not have any unionized employees.
In McLaren Macomb, a Michigan hospital permanently furloughed 11 employees deemed non-essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospital offered to pay severance to the employees in exchange for signing an agreement and release of claims. The NLRB took issue with two provisions. Specifically, the agreement required the employees to maintain the confidentiality of the terms of the agreement and prohibited the employees from making statements that could disparage or harm the employer. The NLRB held that these provisions violated Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA because they required employees to waive rights guaranteed by Section 7 of the NLRA.
The NLRB explained that “a severance agreement is unlawful if its terms have a reasonable tendency to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights[.]” Further, the NLRB determined that an employer violates the NLRA by merely offering such...
Influencer star Ash Trevino has filed a lawsuit against a woman she says called her probation officer in the hopes that the influencer would get a violation of her supervised release ... before p...