Yesterday hundreds of ex-employees received severance agreements. In the last round corrupt officers and managers added a lot of good names to the lay-off list to protect their egos. This is wrongful termination. If you sign the agreement, you don't have any rights to sue Fannie Mae or your ex-manager. Don't sign and sue!
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@b0 in my experience people are more than happy to give personal references after having a good working experience, even at Fannie Mae. A lot of managers and directors had no part of layoff decisions and really hold no ill will against anybody. Of course if you name them in your lawsuit that will change. Make whatever decisions you see fit - every one will have a consequence. Some folks felt the severance was fair and it is just better to ease on down the road.
From a recently published book "Get It in Writing" by Ryan Stygar (attorney)
Chapter 1 - At-Will Employment and Wrongful Termination "Griselda refused to sign any exit paperwork that could have waived her rights. She talked to a few lawyers first, and ultimately chose my office"
...
"Many people reasonably believe that if an employer lies about the reason you were fired (e.g. downsizing, layoffs, poor performance, lack of work, etc.) there is nothing you can do" Fannie Mae and managers are lying!
Think about Maria (another client) who was awarded "$2.5million in lost wages, $9million for mental suffering, and a whopping $30million in punitive damages" that is from Chapter 3 - Retaliation in the same book.
If you think you have a case, not signing is the right thing to do. If you sign, you can't take any action. After all, they give a juicy bone called severance payment not to have any liability, not to pay you $millions, in a way they admit guilt. This severance is higher than many other companies for a reason, Fannie Mae is corrupt and they know they are wrong!
@a7 Fannie doesn't give references, they basically just verify your employment dates when another place calls. So you could basically tell the person above to take a hike or whatever and it really doesn't matter if you get let go.
To the main point the OP wrote, I think every case is different and I took the severance. I was glad to move on and be done and realize many other companies have weak leadership and management also. Trying to fight incompetence is difficult and what they like to do is say "the majority thinks this way" so someone who has a valid point looks like an outlier.
I knew the company did and has done some unethical stuff, but some seem to think it just started the last two years. It has not, it was there before and has been slowly getting worse until I couldn't take it anymore...it wasn't worth it.
What I see happening is the same unethical people that were working there 20 years ago are now higher on management scale and have more power. And these unethical people for the last decade or so have constantly thrown good employees and ethical people that question things under the bus. Nothing will change there until they remove lots of middle to upper management and replace with good people. The problem is a lot deeper than FHFA.
@OP sure I can consider you refuse to sign it. But what is next? Do you have any contact of democratic senator or anyone who can change the situation? If so please provide and we can change Fannie . If you don’t have, I will sign . I need the money for holiday season. I promised my kids to buy him a nice scooter . (By the way thanks to the executives to provide such nice package to me).
They laid off 100+ people right before Thanksgiving, and with no financial reason. How cruel!
So you want people to put income and health insurance on the line to participate in a vendetta against a company they may need to provide them references in the future? Holiday season is less than a month away, there are other concerns for many of us. Do what you want. Personally I’d rather move on to the next thing in my career and leave Fannie Mae in the past.