She could have left without signing.... there isn't anything to indicate there was more than money at play.
Depending on her other financial situations she might be facing financial disaster including uninsured, life destroying, medical bills plus the inability to get any other position while visibly pregnant.
It's highly likely that she was pretty much obliged to take the money regardless of how she felt.
> You talk to a lawyer in that situation
Stop and listen to yourself.
Do you honestly not see how someone in this situation might not believe that retaining a lawyer is a realistic possibility for them?
Morally? At this point she's standing on higher ground than you.
I think this idea that she is pregnant this somehow not responsible has some terrible implications.
The top-level comment tried to describe the moral high ground as directly dependent on strict adherence to the letter of the contract. This is the key issue that I object to in this thread.
An action being legal does not necessarily imply that the action is also moral, and vice versa. Context matters. Intent matters.
Is it moral for a company to ask an outgoing employee to sign a non-disparagement agreement in exchange for severance? Maybe. Did the company misbehave when trying to fire that employee? Is the lawyer or HR person offering the contract aware of what happened? Is somebody that's part of this chain of events knowingly trying to use this exchange to sweep a scandal under the rug? Is the company trying to use the personal or financial circumstances of the employee as leverage to get her to agree to something she normally would not agree to (i.e. "pseudo-duress")?
If any of these things are true, I don't think it's moral for the company to ask for this exchange. Her decision to accept or reject the terms of the contract does not change this, especially if the company tried to use their position of power to influence her decision.
Now, is she acting morally in trying to break the terms of the contract? I don't think it depends on whether or not she's pregnant, but I do think it depends on whether or not the company acted morally in offering her the contract in the first place.
The moral math here is super simple. It's just karma. "If you act immorally towards other people, they might feel morally justified in trying to screw you over. Maybe they're right... maybe you had it coming."
Lots of people subscribe to this idea.
i was fired before with one day notice. It came as total shock to me since i had very good preformance reviews before that. I researched this a lot and found out that employer can fire you for no reason whatsover. They don't have to establish anything.
>trying to get rid of her without doing the proper legwork to establish that she failed in any measuable fashion.
I responded to this quoted comment sayin that employer has to establish poor performance. I was fired with any sort of "establish" and i found out that i couldn't do anything.
https://employment.findlaw.com/losing-a-job/at-will-employme...
Realistically being fired for being a pregnant female is a thing and being fired for being a white dude from Oregon isn't.
There is a grab bag of exceptions that vary by state. Please see
https://employment.findlaw.com/losing-a-job/at-will-employme...
I'll excerpt a relevant part
>Covenant of Good Faith Exception
>Recognized in a small minority of states, including California, this exception reads a covenant of good faith and fair dealing into every employment relationship. This exception means either that employer personnel decisions are subject to a "just cause" standard or that terminations in bad faith or motivated by malice are prohibited.
Lambda is based in CA.
Even hr at penny ante jobs establishes a narrative and documentation for reasons to terminate for good reason.
It's an HR nightmare to fire a pregnant woman, most would rather just avoid that particular claim and pay a few more months of salary
There's often social pressure to shut up, sign whatever they put in front of you, and take the severance money. It can be extremely difficult to go against this pressure, especially if you're not particularly well paid or powerful and the company is throwing resources at trying to fire you.
I'm not suggesting that she should or shouldn't have done what she did here, I'm just trying to push back against all the commenters blindly stating that "she violated her contract! what did she expect would happen?"
It's true, that's what happened, and that's what one should expect. But there's more nuance to how this interaction works, and I think it's a little disingenuous to leave it at just that, especially if you're going to bring morality into the picture.
For me it wasn't social pressure. Its 'at will' laws, employer can fire you for no reason whatsoever( unless its discrimination sort of deal), so ppl get what they can in form of severance.
I’m responding to your assertion that this is a simple open and shut case legally and she has zero recourse. You don’t know the facts and I suspect you’re not attorney. You have no idea whether that’s true or not.