Reconsidering Severance

Paul Burmeister was quoted on Human Resource Executive Online on November 6, 2014. The article “Reconsidering Severance” discussed the importance of making sure you're being fair to departing employees and protecting the organization as well, with regards to severance-agreements.

"By utilizing severance agreements, the employer is buying itself peace of mind," said Paul.

Of course, no two severance agreements will be -- or should be – identical, said Paul, whose practice includes defending labor arbitrations in discharge cases.

Paul pointed out, severance agreements should not simply consist of boilerplate language.

"I haven't seen it that often," he said, "but I have seen companies pull a template for severance agreements off the Internet, and just use that."

While the contents of a severance package should vary based on the aforementioned factors, there are standard elements that every agreement should include, said Paul, such as provisions that any changes must be made in writing, and a statement requiring the return of any and all company property, business plans or client lists, for example (see sidebar).

To read the full article, please visit Human Resource Executive Online.