New NLRB Decision Limits Severance Agreement Terms for Employers

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The National Labor Relations Board (Board) issued a decision in February which should be on every employer’s radar, even if your employees are not unionized. The decision, McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (Feb. 21, 2023), limits the confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-disparagement terms employers may include in severance agreements with their lower-level employees. In the decision, the Board reversed course from two recent decisions which provided more latitude to employers in what they could include in agreements with former employees as long as signing the agreement was voluntary and the agreement was not offered under coercive conditions.

In McLaren Macomb, the Board snaps back to its earlier line of cases that held that provisions in a severance agreement that restrict an employee’s participation in the Board’s unfair labor practice proceedings violate the National Labor Relations Act (the Act). The Board also signaled that it may expand on this precedent, testing not just whether a severance agreement interferes with participation in an unfair labor practice proceeding but also whether it restricts an employee’s ability to exercise other rights protected by Section 7 of the Act. Because Section 7 gives employees the right to talk about working conditions with other employees and even the general public, broad-based confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses will likely run afoul of the new requirements. In March, the General Counsel issued additional guidance that indicated that the NLRB will broadly interpret this holding and go after not only confidential, non-disparagement, and non-disclosure clauses but any portion of a severance agreement that might restrict a former employee’s participation in Board proceedings or exercising his or her Section 7 rights.

For most employers this means that it is time to review the language in severance agreements to ensure compliance with these new constraints. Though not every agreement will need to change – for example, the Act generally does not cover groups such as supervisors, managers, executives, or independent contractors – if your organization uses a standard template for all separation agreements, then such a template should be revised accordingly.

The March guidance also answered some other open questions from the McLaren decision as well: the Board will apply this decision retroactively and, although the Act has a six-month statute of limitations, the Board will view an employer’s efforts to enforce any unlawful provisions of a severance agreement older than six months as a new violation.

For these reasons, if you are an employer and you offer severance or any other type of separation or employment agreement that contains confidentiality, non-disparagement, or non-disclosure clauses to your lower-level employees covered by the Act, now is the time to review these agreements with counsel to determine what changes you may need to make to such agreements going forward and how to handle enforcement of previous agreements, if the need arises.

The material contained in this communication is informational, general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. The material contained in this communication should not be relied upon or used without consulting a lawyer to consider your specific circumstances. This communication was published on the date specified and may not include any changes in the topics, laws, rules or regulations covered. Receipt of this communication does not establish an attorney-client relationship. In some jurisdictions, this communication may be considered attorney advertising.

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About the Author: Gregory J. Ossi

Gregory Ossi resolves labor law issues and ERISA-related litigation matters for clients in the energy production, mining, government contracting, hospitality, manufacturing and construction industries. Greg counsels employers on a broad range of labor and employee benefits matters, such as collective bargaining, mergers and acquisitions, union organizing and retiree health care with an emphasis on multiemployer pension withdrawal liability.

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About the Author: Sarah C. Blackadar

Sarah Blackadar draws on a deep breadth of government experience to assist clients with their labor and employment needs. She counsels clients in their negotiations with labor unions, collective bargaining and contract administration. Sarah offers guidance in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proceedings, labor-relations lawsuits, arbitration hearings and other administrative proceedings.

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