Video Transcript: Executive Joining A Company Negotiating Departure.
Executives joining companies are often asked to either sign employment agreements that can be very complex, that can cover a whole lot of different components of the compensation they receive, can have protection for what happens if there’s a termination for cause or if the executive becomes disabled or otherwise unable to work. There can often be restrictive covenants in those agreements that restrict whether the executive can compete with the company, whether they can solicit clients for customers. Every one of those areas, we can help advise you through.
And not only can we advise the executive through the issues that are involved in every one of those areas, we know what’s state of the art because we’ve been doing this work for so long. We know when an offer is reasonable, when a restriction is or isn’t reasonable, when the items or the different components of the compensation package do provide the kind of value the executive should receive in the role that he or she is being asked to serve.
Now on severances, that’s a whole other issue. There can be severances that are required under an executive’s contract which sometimes can be robust, but sometimes can be fairly minimal and they’re being asked to release rights that they may have to pursue legal claims that we, after talking to them, believe have been violated or may have been violated. Most importantly, we can help an executive in that circumstance get real value for releasing that legal claim. And we can help them review and understand every aspect of their severance agreement; what kind of obligations it imposes on them. Sometimes these severance agreements try to impose non-compete or non-solicit provision when those didn’t exist in the underlying employment relationship, and we can help the executives understand that and, more importantly, get value for that if that’s what they’re being asked to do.
About Larry Schaefer
Lawrence P. Schaefer has earned the respect of judges and other lawyers for his thorough and aggressive client advocacy in negotiation and litigation. He focuses exclusively on representing people who have been subject to employment discrimination at work. Larry serves as the firm’s President and head of litigation. Learn more >
About Toni Halleen
Toni has practiced employment law since graduating from law school in 1988. The field appeals to her because in our society, our jobs can be core to our identity and well-being. Even in her early years in the 70s and 80s, Toni remembers being drawn to ideals of justice, fairness, and social equality in attending anti-discrimination marches, participating in school activism, and admiring the political satire of the Smothers Brothers (and others). Learn more >
