Terminations

Whenever a client asks me to prepare a severance agreement for a departing employee, the first thing I ask is if the employee is 40 or older.  This is important because severance agreements for employees who are 40 or older must comply with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), which specifies the minimum requirements for a release of claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Uber Technologies, Inc. recently made big headlines after it hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate sexual harassment allegations by a former employee at the ride-hailing service. The employee claims that during her year working as an engineer at Uber, she and other female staffers reported multiple instances of sexual harassment to the company’s human resources department, to no avail. Uber’s response to the allegations provides some valuable lessons for employers …