Terminations

One area I am frequently asked to provide advice on is the subject of employee terminations. Generally, employment in California is “at-will,” meaning that an employee can quit, or the employer may fire the employee, at any time, for any reason, with or without cause.  However, the reality is that employers should always have a sound business reason for any termination decision, because if an employee later sues the company for discrimination, retaliation, or wrongful termination, the company will have to prove the termination decision was not for an unlawful reason (such as due to the employee’s age, race, religion or gender). The best way to establish this is by pointing to sound business reasons tied to concrete facts and documentation that back up the termination decision.

Whenever a client asks me to prepare a severance agreement for a departing employee, the first thing I ask is if the employee is 40 or older.  This is important because severance agreements for employees who are 40 or older must comply with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), which specifies the minimum requirements for a release of claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Uber Technologies, Inc. recently made big headlines after it hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate sexual harassment allegations by a former employee at the ride-hailing service. The employee claims that during her year working as an engineer at Uber, she and other female staffers reported multiple instances of sexual harassment to the company’s human resources department, to no avail. Uber’s response to the allegations provides some valuable lessons for employers …