OWBPA - "Knowing & Voluntary"
Benefits Blog points us to a recent Littler Article citing a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals case regarding the definition of "knowing and voluntary" under the Older Workers' Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA). The Act, which applies to the release of age discrimination claims, requires that the release be knowing and voluntary. According to the article, the Court found that the employer failed to make sufficient disclosure to the affected employees in a reduction in force to enable them to make an educated decision about whether to sign release in exchange for the severance offered. Specifically, the Court cited the recent case of Oubre v. Entergy Operations which noted that the OWBPA is...
"designed to protect the rights and benefits of older workers...[and therefore it] imposes specific requirements for releases involving ADEA claims." The court held that to fulfill its obligations under Oubre, an employer must provide an individualized, detailed explanation of why it chose each particular employee. Absent this information, the waiver cannot be considered knowing and voluntary.
The employer in this case failed to do so. It noted that it considered each employee's leadership abilities, technical skills, and behavior, and whether each employee's skills matched its business needs, to arrive at a list of employees who would be laid off. Unfortunately, however, it did not provide this information to the affected employees before they made their decision to sign the release.