Program Details
2026-10-29 12:00:00
Over 1,000+ webinars
Course Overview
2026-10-29 12:00:00
2h CLE Credits
Intermediate
2
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm ESTThis session examines the federal and state law boundaries on what a separation and release agreement can and cannot waive, covering OWBPA requirements for employees 40 and older, the expanding universe of unwaivable statutory rights under the FLSA, ADEA, and NLRA, and the SEC and DOJ whistleblower protection rules that have generated active enforcement against overbroad release language. Attorneys will leave with a working understanding of the specific clauses that render agreements void or expose employers to regulatory penalty, and the drafting fixes required to achieve an enforceable release. The session draws on enforcement actions through May 2026, including the Foot Locker SEC penalty and the NLRB’s Valley Radiology decision, and addresses the current legal uncertainty created by the 2025 NLRB General Counsel memo rescission.
Sean H. Sobel 1:10 pm - 2:10 pm ESTThis session examines the specific drafting vulnerabilities that render severance and release agreements void or unenforceable, covering the current NLRB posture on non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses post-McLaren Macomb, SEC Rule 21F-17(a) whistleblower pitfalls, federal and state NDA restrictions under the Speak Out Act and state Silenced No More laws, and the structural requirements of OWBPA waivers in RIF contexts. Attorneys will leave with a working framework for threading five simultaneous compliance needles — NLRA, SEC, federal statute, state law, and OWBPA — in a single severance agreement. The session is designed for practitioners who draft, review, or negotiate separation agreements and need to identify which specific clauses create liability exposure.
Amy Moor GaylordSean H. Sobel is the Founding Attorney of Sobel Law Solutions, LLC in Cleveland, Ohio, where he represents employees and executives in employment matters throughout Ohio and advises parties in Title IX proceedings nationwide. With more than fifteen years devoted to the employee side of the employment relationship, Sean has reviewed, negotiated, and litigated over hundreds of separation and severance agreements — giving him a granular understanding of how confidentiality, non-disparagement, cooperation, and release provisions operate in practice, and where those clauses cross the line from lawful contract term into unlawful restraint of protected rights.
Amy Moor Gaylord is a Partner in the Chicago office of Akerman LLP and Co-Chair of the firm’s Traditional Labor Law Practice. A Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a former National Labor Relations Board attorney, Amy has spent more than 28 years representing public- and private-sector employers in NLRB proceedings, union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, arbitration, and employment litigation. Her deep command of the National Labor Relations Act — the statute at the heart of the Board’s McLaren Macomb line of decisions on confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in severance agreements — makes her one of the most qualified management-side voices in the country on drafting separation agreements that survive regulatory scrutiny.
Sean H. Sobel is the Founding Attorney of Sobel Law Solutions, LLC in Cleveland, Ohio, where he represents employees and executives in employment matters throughout Ohio and advises parties in Title IX proceedings nationwide. With more than fifteen years devoted to the employee side of the employment relationship, Sean has reviewed, negotiated, and litigated over hundreds of separation and severance agreements — giving him a granular understanding of how confidentiality, non-disparagement, cooperation, and release provisions operate in practice, and where those clauses cross the line from lawful contract term into unlawful restraint of protected rights.
Amy Moor Gaylord is a Partner in the Chicago office of Akerman LLP and Co-Chair of the firm’s Traditional Labor Law Practice. A Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a former National Labor Relations Board attorney, Amy has spent more than 28 years representing public- and private-sector employers in NLRB proceedings, union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, arbitration, and employment litigation. Her deep command of the National Labor Relations Act — the statute at the heart of the Board’s McLaren Macomb line of decisions on confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in severance agreements — makes her one of the most qualified management-side voices in the country on drafting separation agreements that survive regulatory scrutiny.
Requirements
The Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission requires attorneys to complete 12 credits, including 1 ethics, by December 31 of each year. All credits must be reported by February 15 of the following year. A maximum of 12 credits, including 1 ethics credit, may be carried over for 1 year only.
Formats
