Severance Eligibility

DTBRIMRIN

Our company, which is owned by 7 hospitals, is dissolving. A severance package has been established. Eligibility has been defined as anyone who is laid off without being OFFERED a job. If our employees are offered a position within one of the hospitals and do not except the position (whether is be due to salary, benefits, longevity, or anything else), they will be laid off an not offered a severance package.

While I can certainly determine that this practice is not a fair one because they are essentially taking away any bargaining leverage, is it a legal practice?

Carol CA

I would say you have to be VERY careful. Are all the whites offered similar jobs and salaries while all the blacks are offered jobs at a considerable paycut? I don't think that anyone would say offering someone a job at half their pay is "reasonable" and therefore they were constructively discharged. I would feel more comfortable if certain boundaries were drawn, such as being offered a similar job at no more than a 10% paycut. Anything more than that, give them the severance package.

HS

Not only is that not reasonable, but having them travel much farther to another facility is not reasonable either. How far apart are these 7 hospitals?? Will it create undue hardship for someone to travel to another facility? If so, offering someone an opening at a hospital that is much farther than their home and is impossible for that person to travel there...could lead to a problem. I would "get help" from a legal advisor on this one.