NLRB General Counsel Issues Memo on When Severance Agreements Violate the National Labor Relations Act and the Retroactive Effect of the Board’s Decision in McLaren MacombNLRB General Counsel Issues Memo on When Severance Agreements Violate the National Labor Relations Act and the Retroactive Effect of the Board’s Decision in McLaren Macomb

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo to all Field Offices with guidance on the NLRB’s recent decision in McLaren Macomb, that returned the Board to pre-Trump NLRB precedent holding that employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they offer employees severance agreements that require employees to broadly waive their rights under the NLRA.

The memo says the decision in McLaren Macomb has retroactive effect and cites confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-disparagement clauses as examples of provisions in severance agreements that violate the McLaren Macomb standard.