U.S. National Labor Relations Commission ‘Illegal Retirement Contract for Confidentiality and Prohibition of Slander’

The National Labor Relations Commission of the United States ruled on the 21st that it was illegal to stipulate that a worker's severance contract prohibits potential libelous statements to the employer and discloses details of the contract.
“Boards and courts have long understood that employers cannot ask individual employees to choose between receiving benefits and exercising their rights,” Labor Commission Board Chair Lauren McFerran said in a statement. . The 2020 standards ignored the fact that severance pay packages with non-confidentiality or slander clauses could themselves “unlawfully suppress and enforce” workers’ labor rights,” it said.
The Labor Commission's Republican-dominated decision had held that severance agreements were illegal only if they were accompanied by other circumstances that raised suspicion, such as the possibility that they could be used to cover up the illegal firing of unionized workers.
The case in the Labor Commission's ruling stemmed from a Michigan hospital that permanently laid off 11 union members during the pandemic and was forced to sign a contract to "no disparaging statements about the hospital" and "no sharing of contract terms" to receive severance pay. .
The ruling deprived hospitals of the opportunity to negotiate terms by firing workers and bypassing unions in settlement proposals, which the Labor Relations Commission ruled illegal.
Regarding the National Labor Relations Commission's ruling, the New York Times reported, "The ruling by the Democratic-majority board overturns the Trump administration's 2020 decision that the previous board, controlled by Republicans, was 'not illegal' about the severance agreement." reported on the 22nd.
Anne Lofaso, a professor of labor law at West Virginia University, commented on the Labor Commissioner's decision to "bring attention to unsafe working conditions or to protect the rights of employees to engage in other activities that collectively protect or benefit workers." "An employer may still provide a severance agreement to a worker who seeks to waive the right to sue for racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964." pointed out to the NYT.
Charlotte Garden, a professor of labor law at the University of Minnesota, said the 2020 decision "effectively attempts to narrow labor rules to situations in which employers cover up their previous illegal activities and prohibit employees from talking about them." “The ruling puts a wider perspective on when employees have the right to speak,” he told the NYT.
The NYT said, “This ruling could have a direct impact on severance agreements that seek to prevent former employees from publicly discussing allegations of workplace sexual harassment or sexual assault while on the job.” said.
Marvin Kaplan, the only Republican on the board to dissent from the Labor Committee, objected, saying, "It is illegal for hospitals to provide severance agreements because they circumvent unions, but not specifically because of nondisclosure and libel clauses."
In post-Trump Democratic administrations, the Labor Commission has acted quickly to reinstate workers deemed illegally laid off, effectively expanded the financial remedies available to illegal layoffs, and made it easier for some employees in the workplace to unionize. did.