Should I accept the severance package offered by my employer?  This is a question that you should discuss in detail with an employment attorney in order to weigh the rights you are waiving and the benefits you are receiving.  For example, three weeks of pay may not be worth agreeing to a 6 month...

The Emergency Responders Employment Protection Act protects volunteers responding to emergency alarms. The Act provides that "no employer shall terminate, dismiss or suspend an employee who fails to report for work at his or her place of employment because he or she is serving as a volunteer emergency responder during a state of emergency...

One of the most frequent questions we receive from our clients is whether their former employer is required to offer them a severance package or whether they are entitled to a certain amount of severance pay.  The answer to both is NO.  Unless the former employer has a policy, contract or handbook requiring the...

A bill currently pending in Congress called the Arbitration Fairness Act seeks to end forced arbitration of employment lawsuits.  Arbitration is viewed by many lawyers as a forum that favors big business.  Arbitration is a process where employees and consumers give up their right to a trial before a judge and jury in favor...

Almost every severance agreement contains a waiver provision in which the employee agrees to waive their right to sue the company or challenge the validity of the severance agreement. The waiver in a severance agreement is generally only valid when the waiver is done knowingly and voluntarily. Whether the waiver was done knowingly and voluntarily...

According to reports, Home Depot is preparing to cut 1,000 jobs and offer severance agreements to terminated employees. The Atlanta-based company sent an e-mail out to employees announcing the layoffs today. The job cuts are part of a structural change that includes closing three underperforming stores.  Laid-off workers will get at least 60 days...

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government pays 65% of COBRA premiums for up to 9 months for employees who were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009.  The Defense Appropriations Bill extended the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 COBRA subsidy from 9 months...

New Jersey passed the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act which will be effective in July 2010.  This staute is intended to “protect from arrest, prosecution, property forfeiture, and criminal and other penalties, those patients who use marijuana to alleviate suffering from debilitating medical conditions, as well as their physicians, primary caregivers, and those who...

Date: January 19, 2010 Conan O'Brien is said to receive $32.5 million as part of a Severance Agreement and to not compete with NBC until September 2010. The remaining $7.5 million will go in severance pay to about 200 of Conan's "Tonight Show" employees.