Older Workers Benefit Protection Act

• Eleventh Circuit Clarifies Notice Requirements Under Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.

Many employers who implement reductions in force have struggled with the requirements of the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act ("OWBPA"). In order ...

• Mondaq Business Briefing
• Nbr. 2006, January 2006

• Employer Can't Enforce Waiver Provision in Severance Package

Employees who lost their jobs at IBM as part of a reduction in force could sue the company for age discrimination, even though their severance packages purportedly waived their right to sue, the 9th Circuit has ruled in reversing a dismissal. Under the federal Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), employees may not waive their right to sue under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) unless the waiver is "knowing and voluntary." To qualify as "knowing and voluntary," a waiver must be "written in a manner calculated to be understood" by the average employee.

• Lawyers USA
• September 25, 2006

• 3rd Circuit Rules Untimely Age Bias Claim Not Saved by Equitable Tolling

Even though a waiver of claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act signed by a terminated employee was invalid, his failure to timely exhaust his administrative remedies before the EEOC could not be excused on the basis that he was lulled into relying on the waiver, and his claim was not saved by equitable tolling or the "single filing" rule, the 3rd Circuit has ruled. An elderly employee was informed in 1998 that his job was being eliminated. On his last day, he signed a release which waived his right to sue for age discrimination under the ADEA. The release also included language required under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act stating he had been informed in writing by his employer about time limits applicable to his released claims, although the employer never did so.

• Lawyers USA
• September 25, 2007

• Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC, 554 U.S. (2008)

... . Kentucky permits "hazardous position" workers, e.g., policemen, to receive normal retirement bbenefits after working either 20 years or 5 years and attai... not based on a "prohibited stereotype" of older workers, did not produce any "attendant stigma" to...See Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, §102, 104 Stat. 978, 29 U. S. C. §630( l ) ...

• U.S. Supreme Court

• Take the Money and Run?

RALEIGH, N.C. - Two years ago, N.C. Mutual Life Insurance offered Abraham Daye an early retirement package. He turned it down.

...It's a situation thousands of workers will face as the economy remains shaky. Businesses...Older workers may also be protected by the Older Workerss Benefit Protection Act, which requires employers to provid...

• The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL
• July 02, 2011

• Oubre v. Entergy Operations, Inc., 522 U.S. 422 (1998)

... Employment Act (ADEA), as set forth in the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA): It did not...

• U.S. Supreme Court

• Mandatory Retirement of Law Firm Partners

..., the comprehensive and generous fringe benefit package that plaintiff accepts is obviously an emo... law firm Sidley Austin demoted 32 of its older equity partners to "counsel" or "senior counsel" p... employee, the ADEA exempts from its protection "compulsory retirement of any employee who has att... refer are contained in the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act ("OWBPA"),40 and include, i...

• Mondaq Business Briefing
• United States Law Articles in English

• Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, 554 U.S. (2008)

... workforce reduction process to eliminate older employees and that, regardless of intent, the proc...To show a disparate impact, the workers relied on a statistical expert's testimony to the ... generally rests on one who claims its benefits . . ."); United States v. First City Nat. Bank ... by enacting the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, Pub. L. 101-433, 104 Stat. 978, avowedly to "...

• U.S. Supreme Court

• Aylaian v. Town of Huntington, et al., (2nd Cir. 2012)

... to pay 75% of Appellant's health benefits when he retired. Since Appellant resigned a... his ADEA claim was ineffective under the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, 29U.S.C. § 626...

• Federal Circuits

• Workforce Reduction Guidelines

If a workforce reduction is deemed the only course of action capable of meeting an organization's objectives, thorough planning, organization, and implementation need to be prearranged before any action is taken. While many companies do not have written procedures and policies, past practices and policies should be reviewed to determine if they apply to workforce reduction. Employers must determine if the downsizing will involve individual departments, business units, or the entire company. Using objective measures to determine which employees will be laid-off is critical. Businesses must determine if severance pay will be given. If a company has undergone previous workforce reductions, severance pay from those should be reviewed. One method of minimizing the legal exposure and difficul...

... incentives; eliminating temporary workers; reducing hours, pay rates, or fringe benefits; or...The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) concerns ol...

• Southern Business Review
• Vol. 29 Nbr. 2, April 2004