Proprietary Information : Employers usually use severanceagreements to prevent former employees from using proprietary information in their future work.
Cooperation Provisions : Severanceagreements often require the employee to cooperate fully with any legal proceeding or investigation involving the employer.
Severanceagreements can be worth big bucks, but they can also impede success in future jobs through restrictions on competition and use of information.
Release of Claims : Employers usually want severanceagreements to get one concession in particular: a release by the employee of all legal claims against the employer.
And there may not be much in it for potential plaintiffs, since the staffers let go last week were instructed to sign severanceagreements waiving away their rights to additional compensation.
In the cases of both GM and Chrysler, the administration's Auto Task Force was not impressed that the companies haven't been able to modify their agreements with the UAW on compensation reductions, severance pay and a union-managed health care trust.