I personally don't know anyone, but would be interesting to hear stories about that. Once you sign those papers, you basically become their puppet and can't touch them... For sure someone at some time decided not to sign them and sue the Company for being unjustified fired or something like that.
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I did not sign the waiver and initiated an age discrimination law suit against HP via an attorney in Houston. Based on the info that I had attorneys from Milwaukee were pulled in where they flew in to discuss the case. From there the California attorney's were also pulled in. Based on the attorney's that were pulled in there was enough substantial evidence where this bubbled up to a class-action lawsuit. I can not discuss the case but would recommend contacting the attorney's to investigate your options. If anyone signed the waiver, I would still recommend contacting the attorney's. It would be worthy you time.
http://hpagediscriminationinvestigation.com/attorneys/
Sign the documents and get the extra money. Entering into a legal battle with a behemoth like HPE is a waste of time. Even if you eventually win, it'll be years before you see any $s in your Bank. Believe me... When weeks start to pass by without getting a new job, you'll regret a thousand times not having that additional money as a cushion. I don't work in HR, or anything like that... I am just being very realistic here. I was laid off early in 2015, and it took me 7 months to land an offer. Things out there are pretty tough - unless you are willing to "blindly" relocate or work on low pay temporary gigs.
This is an amazing thread. I'm learning a lot from the comments. Thanks. Please, keep the experiences coming.
State and federal law takes precedence over any papers HPE asks you to sign. They may be able to mess with your severance payout since that is not a legally mandated obligation, but HPE does not have the authority to ask anyone to sign away their legal rights. If they are legally liable for something (age discrimination, unlawful dismissal, etc.) they are still liable regardless of what you signed. They ask us to sign those exit papers to discourage employees from exercising their legal rights and filing a lawsuit because they think they no longer can. For example, COBRA coverage is a US federal law, they also cannot withhold your paycheck for hours already worked to force you to sign, etc.
The complaint is being investigated by a state agency, but has been cross filed with the EEOC. I can't really talk about the specifics while it is being investigated. But the complaint was filed about a year ago, and it can take up to two years to investigate.
https://www.eeoc.gov/employees/charge.cfm
I was a teleworker, so I just had to FEDEX my ID and company property back on my last day.
There was a calculation as to how much the severance package was based on years of service and salary. Everyone got a check worth 60 days of pay even if you don't sign the general release agreement. You still get COBRA benefits if you don't sign. The only thing you don't get is the last chunk of the severance payment.
Here is the payment breakdown HP sent me 2 years ago:
Weekly Severance Pay
1828.15
HP Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Years of Service [Estimated as of your Designated Termination Date]
13.26482853
Severance Payment Amount
(1 week of pay for each year of HP FTE - minimum 11 weeks, maximum 52 weeks)
24250.03
Minus 60-day pay equivalent
15669.76
Total Net Severance Payment Amount (before tax withholding) to be paid to employee if the "Waiver and General Release Agreement" is submitted within the specified timeframe
8580.27
I was wfr, signed the waiver agreement, out of deress, fear and i still joined the lawsuit. Speak with Paul Zimmer 414.276.5000 at the law firm that is moving ahead with the suit. He will explain why you can and should join if you signed the waiver. Last time i spoke with him the suit was in the initial hearing phase in the CA court system. This first phase is to get approval for a class action suit. Good luck.
My recent experience . . . During the time between WFR notification and walking you out the door you will be pointed to a number of online resources, some of which you must deal with in a short amount of time. One of those items, concerning your severance pay, will be sent ~12 days after your final day. That document must be printed, signed and mailed to an HPE address in Plano, TX. The document says if you sign you will get your final severance pay, if you don't, no last paycheck. The document is about 8 pages long and says among other things that you will never say anything disparaging about HPE. It also states that if you do anything to break the agreement, before or after your final paycheck, that you must repay HPE. I didn't see anything, besides the usual legal junk, that would prevent you from pursuing or joining in a pursuit of legal matters against HPE other that having to repay the severance package.
I didn't sign anything when I was WFR'd. I filed an age discrimination complaint. Everyone that was WFR'd in the decisional unit I was in was 40 or older.
I do know someone. She was in sales, making her numbers and of a certain grandmotherly age. She was the only person from the team WRFd ... when others (young guys) on the team were not (and had not) made numbers for a period of years. She refused to sign the papers. The company pushed hard. She refused. It was when they offered her a settlement that she contacted a lawyer to review the offer. The lawyer threatened to file an age related lawsuit. The lawyer got her a larger settlement. She cannot disclose the amount received but it has been three years and she is having a great time traveling and playing with grandkids. She is the happiest I've ever seen her.