Don't give up your right to sue for discrimination
(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY Your employer can ask you to give up many things in exchange for employment. For instance, they can require you to sign a non-compete agreement, work a specific schedule, and consent to all sorts of confidentiality agreements. But what it can't do is force you to give up your right to sue for discrimination, according to a new ruling by a federal court.
Cognis, a subsidiary of BASF, fired Steven Whitlow in 2007 for refusing to sign an agreement that included a prohibition against suing for discrimination. While such clauses are common in things like severance agreements, this one stretched those limits by restricting Whitlow's right to take his employer to court over future events. That is, the company required him to sign an agreement that barred him from suing even if he was illegally discriminated five years from now.
You can see why he objected to that. He refused to sign and was fired. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took up his case.
What's unusual here is that the EEOC won a "summary judgment." This means that the court determined that even if everything BASF said was true, they'd still lose because asking someone to do this is a clear violation of law. So what does this mean for the rest of us?
1. Always read before you sign. Often, companies shove papers under an employee's nose and says, "You need to sign this." Don't do it until you've read and understood what the document is about. In many cases, you will want to consult a lawyer.
2. Just because it's been approved by the company's legal department doesn't mean it's legal. I have no doubt that Cognis or BASF lawyers were involved in drafting this agreement. But corporate counsel serve chiefly to protect a company's legal interests, not enforce the law. If something seems fishy to you, investigate.
3. Stand up for yourself. You need to carefully consider what the implications are of any document you sign. If there is something you disagree with, speak up. It's often possible to get a change made just by asking for one. If the company refuses to budge, then you need to to decide if it's worth it to you to give up that right in exchange for a job. In some cases you'll decide it is, in others you'll decide it's not. Even if you sign and it's later determined to be illegal, you won't be held accountable for it.
4. Suing is not an easy fix. It's 2012. Whitlow was fired in 2007. This case didn't even go to trial and it still took roughly five years to resolve. And even though he "won," the details of what that means for him remain to be seen.
This case was decided in Illinois and isn't automatically applicable to all states. However, it's likely that other courts will follow suit what could emerge as an important legal precedent.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Bloomsberries
