Survey: Recession Will Last 14 Months
Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but a new survey projects that the recession will last fourteen months.
According to the Philadelphia Reserve’s latest Survey of Professional Forecasters, the current recession began in April and will last through June 2009. That would make it the third-longest recession since the Great Depression. Only the 16-month recessions of the mid-70s and early 80s were longer.
As we discussed here, employment claims are one of the few things that go up during a downturn. It’s more important than ever that employers know and follow the law. Here’s what you can do to stay out of legal hot water:
Don’t Forget to WARN. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires advance notice of a “plant closing” or “mass layoff” in certain situations. Click here for our handy WARN Cheat Sheet. Also, make sure you’re familiar with your own state’s laws. Some states have enacted WARN-type statutes and/or require advance layoff notice under unemployment regulations.
If You RIF, RIF Right. To withstand judicial scrutiny, a RIF must be based on legitimate nondiscriminatory business reasons. Make sure all RIF decision-makers can clearly articulate those reasons before you proceed. Also, the criteria used for selecting RIF participants should be as specific, concrete and consistent as possible. Multiple factors may be used, but the more subjectivity there is, the more likely it is that potentially discriminatory factors could creep in.
Severance and Release. Consider offering severance agreements in exchange for releases of claims to further reduce risk. Make sure you comply with the older worker waiver protections under the law. Check out our our ADEA Cheat Sheet for an overview.
Be Careful What You Write. Be very, very, very careful about what you put in writing. If you’re sued, the plaintiff’s attorney will undoubtedly demand every single e-mail, memo, note, jotting and scribble that’s remotely related to your process.
Talk to Your Lawyer. Run the RIF plan by your legal counsel and conduct discrimination testing to make sure everything’s on solid legal footing. Come up with a plan to protect as many documents as possible under the attorney-client privilege.
Click here for more tips. Hope this helps.
