News & Analysis as of August 2, 2025

Employee Rights

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Hiring & Firing refers to the process of recruiting, interviewing and offering employment and the process of evaluating performance and dismissing employees. Hiring & Firing is a highly regulated area and can create tremendous liability for employers who fail to properly adhere to acceptable employment practices. Some of the potential pitfalls in this area stem from discriminatory hiring practices, improper performance evaluations, and retaliatory firings. less -

Considering a Reduction in Force? Some Preliminary Considerations

Foley & Lardner LLP on 7/22/2025

Employers sometimes find it necessary to make the difficult decision to undergo a reduction-in-force (RIF), resulting in employee layoffs and/or terminations. Before moving forward with an RIF, employers should develop an...more

End of NY Legislative Session Leaves Employers Watching Key Workplace Bills

Fisher Phillips on 7/3/2025

New York’s two-year 2025-2026 legislative session hit its midpoint in June, with lawmakers wrapping up the first year by passing a slew of workplace-related bills that now await action from Governor Hochul. As federal labor...more

Considerations for Life Sciences Employers When Planning Reductions in Force

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 5/22/2025

Life sciences employers have been impacted by various market forces in the last several years, and the recent economic turbulence is only adding to the challenges they face....more

2025 NLRB Forecast: What Employers Should Expect Under President Trump's Administration

Troutman Pepper Locke on 4/4/2025

On January 27, 2025 — seven days after he was sworn in — President Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic member, and former Chair of, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”). Although Wilcox’s term was...more

New York Poised to Expand Severance Agreement Rules: Key Employer Takeaways

Fisher Phillips on 3/12/2025

Employers would have to give all employees in New York time to review and revoke severance agreements under a bill that just passed the state Senate on March 4. The No Severance Ultimatums Act now moves to the Assembly, and...more

Ontario, Canada Court Finds Employer Repudiated Employment Agreement When it Failed to Pay Employee’s Contractual Severance

Littler on 2/21/2025

In Timmins v. Artisan Cells, 2025 CanLII 2387, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice found, in an undefended claim, that the employers “by their correspondence and actions” repudiated the employee’s employment agreement when...more

Voluntary Buyouts:The Pros and Cons

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC on 1/30/2025

Yesterday, the Trump Administration announced that it offered voluntary buyouts to over two million federal employees. Employees who voluntarily resign their position will receive payments equal to approximately eight months...more

Employment Flash - April 2023

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 4/14/2023

In our latest edition of Employment Flash, we examine developments over the past three months, including the NLRB’s ruling regarding employees’ labor law rights in severance agreements, a Supreme Court decision that upheld...more

NLRB Targets Severance Agreements

Woods Rogers on 4/14/2023

In a decision that affects union and non-union employers, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently found that certain provisions often used in severance and release agreements violate the rights of employees under...more

Standard Severance Agreements Require Review

Poyner Spruill LLP on 4/10/2023

On March 22, 2023, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo (“General Counsel”), issued Memorandum General Counsel 23-05 (“Memo”) to answer questions arising from the Board’s...more

Broad Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement Provisions in Release Agreements Subject to NLRB Scrutiny

Poyner Spruill LLP on 3/1/2023

On February 21, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an opinion with significant implications for confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in employers’ severance and release agreements with departing...more

NLRB New Rule Affects How All Employers Should Approach Severance Agreements and Other Employment Contracts

Carlton Fields on 2/23/2023

On February 21, 2023, in McLaren Macomb, No. 07–CA–263041, the National Labor Relations Board held that confidentiality and nondisparagement provisions are prohibited in severance agreements where they purport to limit an...more

Employers Must Draft Severance Agreements with Caution After NLRB Renders Critical Provisions Unlawful: 9 Crucial Questions...

Fisher Phillips on 2/22/2023

A pendulum-swinging decision from the National Labor Relations Board yesterday means that severance agreements – in both unionized and non-union workplaces – could once again be deemed unlawful if they could be construed to...more

Employers with Limited Canadian Presence May Be Required to Fulfill Significant Severance Obligations Thanks to Recent Court...

Fisher Phillips on 7/7/2021

A Divisional Court in Ontario, Canada recently issued a ruling that could have significant potential extra-jurisdictional consequences for U.S. employers with even a single employee based in Canada. The court’s June 15...more

Employment Flash - February 2020

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on 2/14/2020

This edition of Employment Flash looks at recent NLRB activity, including its decision (overruling an Obama-era decision) regarding confidentiality rules for employees during ongoing workplace investigations. We also discuss...more

Mandatory Severance on the Horizon Under Proposed Amendments to NJ Warn Act

Epstein Becker & Green on 1/6/2020

A bill to amend the New Jersey Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Loss Job Notification Act, also commonly referred to as the New Jersey WARN Act (“NJ WARN Act”), which the New Jersey Senate passed on December 16, 2019, if...more

Having Your Cake And Eating It Too: Sixth Circuit Rules That Employees Need Not Return Severance Pay Before Suing

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/2/2018

Seyfarth Synopsis: In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that former employees need not return severance pay before filing a lawsuit against an employer, when the employee alleges the...more

Considering Offering Severance Pay in Exchange for Certain Post-Employment Obligations? Think Again.

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 2/21/2018

An employer violated employee’s labor rights by offering her a separation agreement that contained unlawful terms ruled a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) administrative law judge (“ALJ”) in Baylor Univ. Med. Ctr.,...more

Federal Court Allows Terminated Employee to Proceed with Age Discrimination Claim Despite Her Execution of a Release of Claims

Mintz - Employment, Labor & Benefits... on 11/4/2015

A recent Colorado federal court decision serves as a good reminder to employers on how not to obtain a release of claims from a terminated employee. For starters, don’t tell the employee her job is being eliminated and then...more

[Event] What Employers Need to Know about Attracting, Managing and Separating from Their Employees - April 30, Houston, TX

Troutman Pepper Locke on 4/13/2015

The Greater Houston Partnership will hold a continuing education series "What Employers Need to Know about Attracting, Managing and Separating from Their Employees: Current Legal Compliance and Talent Management Issues."...more

The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - June 2014

Proskauer Rose LLP on 6/16/2014

Editor's Overview - In this month's issue, our authors address severance benefit claims and ERISA disclosure requirements. In our first article, Joe Clark addresses whether a plan administrator should conduct an...more

Waivers of Age Discrimination Claims in Reduction in Force Cases Continue to Face Intense Scrutiny

Mintz - Employment, Labor & Benefits... on 5/30/2014

A Federal court in Colorado recently permitted a former employee to advance an age discrimination claim despite his prior execution of a severance and release agreement after his employment ended in connection with a...more

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