Advice for getting laid off
 

No not me, but this guy I know. He's 56. The company he works for got bought out. They want to give him 2 months severance, bridge his health insurance, and they want him to, get this: sign an agreement that he won't sue them for age discrimination!

The people let go were 58, 55, 56,50, plus one girl who only worked 2 days a week 31.

I think it's BS.

Sue them or negotiate a better deal. In either case he should get a lawyer that specializes in that area of law.

It seems like nowadays most of the companies want you to sign some kind of agreement stating that you won't sue them when they lay you off. Some of them just state that you won't sue them for any reason. Some, as in your friends case, state certain reasons. Either way, they will NOT give him any severance, benefits, etc. UNTIL he signs it. They hope that your friend will be hurtin' financially if he DOESNT sign so he will have no other choice but to sign.

Definitely have your friend talk to a lawyer and see what his options are.

My understanding is those agreements are unenforcable because your friend is being told to sign it under financial duress ("we won't give you any severance unless you sign this" is duress). He should talk to lawyer and not listen to some anonymous person on the web, but if it were me, I'd sign it, get the severance, and then think about suing anyway.

My only other advice is to get the COBRA or find some sort of health insurance, even though it is expensive and may seem unneeded. Then find some job, any job, that includes less-expensive health benefits to carry him through for a while. My best friend was laid off about six months ago, and in the last two months has started having health problems, namely, kidney stones from hell. A couple of trips to the emergency room, some doctor visits, some prescriptions, and the imaging used to look at the stones altogether is up to a total of $13,000, and without insurance or an income, that hurts a lot. He's in his late twenties -- you wouldn't expect health problems at that age necessarily. At 50+, it's going to be a priority to keep health insurance.

Final piece of advice: maybe this is his opportunity to go into business for himself. After all, he's not likely to lay himself off :)

I assume your friend lives in Minnesota? Either way, find out if his state of residence is a "right to work" state. If it is then his employer doesn't "owe" him ANY kind of severence and anything they do offer is just out of generosity. That is, unless he had a contract spelling out specific options.
Last March my employer of 18 years decided to close my distribution center and move operations to LA to accomodate Chinese imports instead of U.S. manufactured product.
Since I had no intention of moving to Ca. I was ' excessed'. I was offered a package and informed that if I chose not to sign the "agreement" I would get nothing. They offered some pretty good money and benefits so I decided to take it. Standard language in the agreement, no compete or litigation etc, but one thing I thought was funny as hell. There was a clause that I "would not say anything substantially negative" about the company! :rolleyes:

Here's a good read on this subject:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=xY4nnKyAkD&isbn=0375714456&itm=1

No way to say without knowing more of the story. You might want to remind yer friend that at some early point he should make finding another job a priority. Obviously the company has looked into the issue and is being as pro-active as it can.

Personally, given a choice of sniveling to a lawyer about a lost gravy train or moving foreword, I’ll put my time, energy, and resources into moving foreword. While it might be prudent to talk with a lawyer, i'd treat that as a distant option but not a priority. Typically folks will spend weeks or months using a lawyer as a denial crutch, when most of the time all they are rewarded with is another bill. Eyes on the ball. Not moving foreword is the real BS.

Have him take the severance sign the agreement "without protest" wait a month and then sue them for age discrimination. :rolleyes:

My company has a written policy of 2 weeks pay per year of service.........

Last guy that got laid off collected against 35 years of service.

When the television network I worked for went under four years ago, I was given nothing.

I then went to deposit my last paycheck and learned that the account had been closed, rendering the check useless. I still have it.

I then called to set up COBRA. The insurance company refused, citing the fact that my health insurance had been cancelled several months earlier, without my knowledge. Thank God I didn't land in the hopspital for anything. The company had been taking $90 out of my paychecks for months to pay for health insurance that they had cancelled without telling me. It went into someone's pocket, not mine.

Yes, I STILL carry a grudge. :mad:

Man Stefano, that's rough. I hope your insurance situation is OK now.

So this whole thing looks like the company is practicing age discrimination, and then admitting it by making the old guys sign a waiver. I mean, how blatant can this be? I think it sucks.

Yeah, I set up with another company for $100 a month. Not too bad! I also eventually collected what the company owed me, but at only .30 to the dollar. Some of those people should have gone to jail.... or worse.

Worse I say.....

Get a lawyer.

Exactly....that was fraud and theft.........if they are still alive they can be proscecuted.....