I heard from two different coworkers whose last day was 4 /19 that HR reps told them Dell was not going to continue with severance payments due to some upcoming changes in Federal WFR rules. Has anyone head anything on this?
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as others posted, it's an exchange of money for a release from any litigation and optional
Reading my severance package. The understanding I got was that the acceptance of the Severance package (which is an option) is in return for buying your silence and agreement not to bring legal action against Dell.
The cost of the Severance package is probably worth it to Dell to decrease the litigation. Without the Severance package there would probably be Age Discrimination suits against Dell. These suits are hard to win and very expensive to litigate.
Severance pay is optional employers like Dell offer it to keep you quite and not sue them.
stop confusing the WARN act with severance.
They are two entirely diffewrnt things.
This is interesting and not necessarily surprising. If it is true, the "Federal WFR rules" that they may be referring to are probably the changes to the National Labor Relations act from last year. Basically, they ruled that employers cannot buy your silence in exchange for severance. See article from the National Labor Relations Board below. I hope this isn't true, because it's not like they are being required to stop paying severance. They just aren't getting their benefit.
Board Rules that Employers May Not Offer Severance Agreements Requiring Employees to Broadly Waive Labor Law Rights
https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/board-rules-that-employers-may-not-offer-severance-agreements-requiring
The 60 days notice or 60 days pay is the minimum. Severance pay in addition is totally voluntary and designed to entice acceptance of NDA and hold harmless agreements to avoid wrongful termination lawsuits, What Dell May do in practice is probably left up to that lawyer who threatens everyone each year with losing your bonus if you don’t complete the sales ethics training that does not apply to your job role.
Short answer no.
WARN act is at FED level. Some states have made it even more stringent.
So companys would have to give 2 months notice or payout 2 months. Anything above that they do not have to do.
But your post smells like BS and fear mongering
or if you will sue for discrimination
Technically there isn’t anything forcing any company to pay severance federally right now.
From the U.S. Dept of Labor: “Severance pay is often granted to employees upon termination of employment. It is usually based on length of employment for which an employee is eligible upon termination. There is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for severance pay. Severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee's representative).”
It comes into question more regarding the WARN act I believe. Or if you have a union.
if that is the case, I would expect the next round to be huge.