Purely on a legal level, getting your most disgruntled employees to identify themselves and waive all claims in exchange for $2,000-5,000 is probably a pretty good deal.
From what I've read, they have plenty of employees with zero rights to claims, under schemes like German "minijobs" ( www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1szub2/9000_workers_at_amazoncoms_german_operations_were/ )
Defending against costly litigation and employment law claims - warranted or otherwise - costs a lot more in legal fees and reputational damage than a couple of months severance pay. And even if they do find themselves in the dock, an employee being shown to have turned down a couple of nonspecific, nondiscriminatory financial incentives to leave certainly weakens any allegations of protracted mistreatment. Anyone know what strings are attached to this offer?
