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California law firm warns Cisco employees: Do not sign severance agreement Update 8-22-11: CBS News seeks to interview laid off Cisco employees in San Jose
California Cisco Systems, Inc. employees: DO NOT SIGN A SEVERANCE AGREEMENT Without consulting our office. California law has recently changed. If you sign a severance agreement as part of a layoff or resignation you may be waiving your right to make certain valuable labor claims, this includes claims you were not aware of at the time you signed the severance agreement. Typically, companies include a "general release" in severance packages. If you sign the GENERAL RELEASE, then you may be waiving your right to overtime, wage related benefits, wrongful termination, discrimination, disability, and other general labor claims. More importantly, the severance amount may not be sufficiently paying you for what you are releasing. Consider the resources, the lack of work life balance, the time you have dedicated to Cisco. Is the severance fair? Hundreds of engineers, computer programmers, and IT professionals contact us regularly AFTER they sign a severance package. It is unfortunate, but with the exception of a few, we cannot pursue their labor related claims IF the employee also signed a general release. The offer is designed to avoid the prospect of protracted and expensive litigation with former employees. It does not consider the individual rights or claims of employees who may have viable claims which will become subsumed within the layoff strategy. Cisco Systems, Inc. like many other employers is relying on employees to just simply go along with the severance offer. You should examine the motivation for the severance and release. In large scale layoffs the reason for individual severance offers my be crowded out by the reduction in force. It is not unusual for employers to use the RIF to weed out the valid claims of those who are being targeted because they have voiced concerns over discrimination on account of age (if over 40), race, sex (gender), pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religious belief, marital status or disability (mental or physical). In many where the employer' motives for terminating the employee are entirely legal (e.g., reduction in force, disciplinary termination, etc.), the employee still may have claims that far exceed the value of a small separation or severance package. For instance, many employees are inadvertently misclassified as "exempt" employees and paid on a salary basis when they should be receiving pay on an hourly basis plus overtime, double time, and meals and rest periods. In such cases, employees may be able to recover unpaid wages dating back several years, ultimately an amount far exceeding the severance offer. In addition to significant monetary benefits, an employment lawyer may be able to help negotiate other favorable terms in a severance negotiation. These terms include but are not limited to the employer's agreement not to contest the employee's application for unemployment insurance benefits, characterizing a termination as a resignation, providing a favorable employment reference, continuing employer-sponsored health insurance for an extended period of time, and the waiver of the employer's right to recover reimbursement of a loan or tuition. CONTACT our office immediately if you are asked to sign a severance or general release as a result of a lay off or termination. Also, beware: COMPANIES "HIDE" GENERAL RELEASES IN SEVERANCE PACKAGES or MISREPRESENT THE NATURE OF THE RELEASE. What about Cisco employees who are not based in California? Excellent question: our goal is to identify the hubs and connect with attorneys. So yes, we will assist those individuals as well, even if it means we give them generic advice and a referral. BUT the key is to allow us to find them the right attorney. There are too many employment attorneys who are ill-equiped for this situation. We will screen them.
Jose Garay Related stories: Cisco's FY11 global workforce reduction appears to have specifically targeted the United States CBS News seeks to interview laid off Cisco employees in San Jose 1,826 Cisco WebEx and collaboration employees guillotined by Tandberg executives Cisco insight series: Expendable Cisco business units and employees Discord between Cisco engineers and Cisco technical marketing appears rampant Brian Schipper senior vice president of human resources bolts Cisco
Cisco's 2011 voluntary enhanced early retirement program (EER)
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