On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board issued a sweeping decision that will now prohibit employers from using severance agreements that essentially prevent employees that are no longer with the company from disparaging or criticizing their former employer.
The NLRB decision indicated that an employee’s severance agreement that requires them to broadly give up their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is unlawful. The NLRB’s decision reversed two prior decisions, both made in 2020, holding that such severance agreements were lawful.
In today’s business world, it is common for employers to require employees to sign nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements during the hiring process, as well as in severance agreements and settlement agreements. Based on the NLRB’s decision, companies can no longer offer severance agreements that prevent employees from making disparaging remarks regarding their former employer.
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Oberman Law Firm represents national and international clients in a wide range of practice areas, including private equity, M&A, healthcare, corporate transactions, intellectual property, regulatory compliance and governance, cross-board transactions, labor and employment, construction law, litigation, private clients’ services, corporate restructurings, and white-collar and governmental disputes. As a Firm, we offer the highest quality legal advice coupled with extraordinary and tailored service to deliver exceptional results to our clients. We invest deeply in the brightest legal talent and build dynamic teams that operate at the pinnacle of respective practice areas. And we believe in empowering our attorneys, encouraging entrepreneurialism, operating ethically and with integrity, and collaborating to bring the very best to every client engagement. These principles have guided us in building extraordinary and successful long-term partnerships with our clients.
