Excerpt from: Lawyers.com (click for full article)
While it’s clear that employees can always file discrimination charges even if they sign a severance agreement, they often worry that the severance payment will be yanked if they decide to file with the EEOC – as it was in Thompson’s case.
“It can be yanked,” Cohen tells Lawyers.com, “but it’s not likely” – especially if you have a good case against the employer for any type of discrimination. Employers often rely on the fact that employees don’t know their rights or just need the money so much that they will sign anything.
“Most of the time, a well-counseled employer will have someone sign an agreement with a release for every possible claim. In order for that to be enforceable, the employer has to give the employee more than they would be otherwise be entitled to under its severance policy,” says Cohen.
What that means is that if your employer is only offering you the standard severance that the company provides for and nothing extra, it cannot require you to waive your right to file claims in order to get the severance money. If it does, you will have a retaliation claim to add to any other claims you might have against it.
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