Layoffs

New danger: Huge fines for gagging departing workers

03/20/2023

Chances are, you conduct routine exit interviews for most terminations, whether employees are quitting or have lost their jobs in a layoff. You might also commonly offer severance pay in exchange for employees signing an agreement not to sue or making some other promise about their future conduct. But beware! If you make employees promise to tell you about future investigations, expect a fine from the SEC.

Case of the Week: No nondisparagement and confidentiality clauses in separation agreements

02/24/2023

The National Labor Relations Board on Feb. 21 said it’s unlawful to include nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions in the severance agreements employers often ask laid-off employees to sign.

Keep it Legal: 5 tips for firing employees the right way

01/27/2023

Firing employees is one of the most challenging parts of being a manager, but it is also often unavoidable. If you need some help building up this essential skill, don’t worry. BambooHR published a recent blog offering five helpful tips on how to fire an employee the right way.

Factor workers’ immigration status into layoff decisions

01/24/2023

Fears of a looming recession have some employers making contingency plans for laying off workers. Before you follow suit, think carefully about how you’d bring back employees if the economy rebounds quickly. That’s especially important if you wind up having to lay off employees who are legally working in the United States on immigrant visas that require remaining employed.

Twitter HR invents new category of fired worker

12/06/2022

Twitter’s HR department now has a new category of worker: “accidentally terminated.”

Lay people off the right way—or face a whirlwind of lawsuits

11/22/2022

Layoffs are an unfortunate but sometimes necessary part of doing business. With high inflation and jitters over a recession, some companies have no choice but to make cuts. But there’s a right and wrong way to go about them.

Snapshot: High-tech, high layoffs

11/22/2022

The tech sector is not always a herald of larger economic trends, but the sheer number of people laid off during the first two weeks of November—about 20,000 employees—has staggered even seasoned HR managers.

Conduct a self-audit before finalizing terminations

11/17/2022

There’s a compelling reason to conduct a routine HR office review of all employment decisions before they’re finalized. That way, your HR professionals can do their jobs and confirm that the decision is based on objective information and business necessity.

Are you prepared for layoffs?

10/26/2022

Increasingly, workers who have sidelined themselves are returning to the labor market. This means new hires are more likely to come from legally protected groups, including those older than 40, the disabled and women with young children. Now is the time to prepare for inevitable layoffs in a way that doesn’t trap you in litigation.

Contract lapse can trigger employment suit

09/29/2022

Some employers assume that if they provide time-limited employment contracts, they can let those contracts expire without worrying about being sued for workplace discrimination. After all, when an employer and an individual sign a contract with an end date, it should follow that once that date comes and goes, neither has an obligation to the other, right?