Has anyone gotten a lawyer to review their severance agreement?
I believe the site said, it may be beneficial to have a lawyer to review the documents.
11 replies (most recent on top)
Verizon has a army of lawyers. The language is pretty tight. Directors and above have really restrictive non-competes (except for California employees) that bar them from working in many areas. Given how broadly Verizon now defines it's business, even where it just plain s---s at it, it greatly limits future employment during the non-compete period.
Verizon has become very mean over the years. You can thank Lowell and his minions from Wireless for that. Mediocre pay, a toxic work environment that will only get worse once Stratton is anointed king will lead to many talented people leaving, or working there in fear and misery.
I wouldn't say that nobody is going to win, but if your only crime was service time, apparently they have figured out a way around that. Age discrimination seems to involve some actions and comments about being old that you can document. You don't need a lawyer to research things. Use the search engine Duck Duck Go to get around the Google filters. And I understand the spousal push for a lawyer, it is heartbreaking to watch your spouse's career end in a 5 minute phone call. Good luck to everyone looking for a job. At least this layoff came during nice weather and you can take a trip without anyone telling you that your work (and the work dumped on you during the previous layoffs) is more important than your vacation.
@yvv Is 100% correct, dont have a legal eagle read back to you what is in the severance agreement and charge you over $500. Also small time lawyers do not want to get on the bad side of Verizon.
Take The money and run, because you ain't gonna win. (you wont get any money while you challenge it). Verizon has external and internal labor lawyers reviewing the Severance Agreement months before they announce a RIF.
I was RIFed in Oct 15. I went to a lawyer per my wife's suggestion. It was supposed to just cost 2 to 3 hundred. They ended up billing me a little over a thousand just to say I didn't have any age discrimination case.
Don't waste your money.
Thanks for the info on the EEOC. It appeared to me that the agreement said that if you caused them any legal trouble, you were agreeing to give back your severance, so you might end up with a loss. I'm sorry, I don't have the paperwork here to quote it and it has probably changed anyhow as that was quite a while ago. So it seemed the only way it would pay to go to the EEOC would be if you got more money in settlement, but the EEOC might just get your job back at which point you would be in an uncomfortable position in your work environment and have to give back the severance too. Well it's complicated, that is for sure. I didn't know about the EEOC agreement also being sort of a gag order too so we will never really know anything.
It can take a while for the EEOC to complete an investigation and if a settlement is reached by way of mediation or conciliation, you sign an agreement to not divulge the details. By signing a severance agreement does not prevent you from filing a complaint with the EEOC. Good luck to you in your future endeavors whatever they might be!
Thanks everyone! I was just curious for my own information since I saw the statement on the site. I appreciate the info everyone. :)
They took a lesson from Disney and locked up any chance of complaining from what I could see in the 2015 version. My spouse just signed right away and didn't even let me see it I guess to protect my blood pressure. I came across the paperwork last year and I didn't see any mistakes in the gag order. Some did say on here that they filed a complaint with the EEOC, but no one has come back to say they heard anything further that I have seen on here. There was a legal group in 2015 that was talked about on here that helped the Disney IT people and another lawyer that wanted people to contact him if they felt they had been laid off because of a health issue. I didn't hear of anyone using them or making any headway, but I may have missed the post. Research the angle that you feel that you have been wronged and if you decide to have a lawyer look at your papers, of course watch out for scammer lawyers. Sorry that you were Rifd. Good luck in your job search.
OP, I suspect you're seeking for free legal advice when the premise of your query begins with the question, "Has anyone gotten a lawyer to...?".
I agree with what has been said. Either stay with the company and move to a new role or accept the dismissal and benefits and look for something else. It is a good package and you can get unemployment too. Good luck friend.
Don't waste money you need to keep now. It's not going to change the outcome.
Good luck to you as you go through this transition.