"It’s very easy to do legally - the situation is usually along the lines:
“The legal requirement is for us to pay you [very small amount]. However we are offering you a special redundancy package of [somewhat larger amount] if you agree to X and Y conditions.”
So “forced” is probably the wrong word. Strongly encouraged?"
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2024/09/18/ibm_job_cuts/
It sounds sounds like typical IBM Legal arm twisting threats. No wonder many ex-employees get multi-million payouts when they sue after being laid off in the US, because IBM indulges in blatant age discrimination and robbery from it's laid off employees' paychecks.
Alvind and his Legal Pipmunks try to maintain a code of silence even better than the Italian Mafia when it comes to trying to enforce NDAs. But things leak out...of course. After all, Murphy's law strikes... again.