Mobile Phone Retailer’s Severance Pacts Illegal, NLRB Judge Says

A mobile phone dealer violated federal labor law by maintaining an overly restrictive severance agreement, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

Prime Communications LP, which calls itself AT&T’s largest authorized retailer, included in a severance contract nondisparagement and confidentiality requirements that were illegal under the NLRB’s 2023 decision in McLaren McComb, Administrative Law Judge Eleanor Laws held Wednesday.

The ruling illustrates the reach of the Biden board’s precedent nullifying employers’ authority to include gag orders, waivers of the right to sue, and other contractual conditions in severance agreements if those provisos tend to interfere with workers’ organizing rights. ...