>>I read the article, and this does not appear to be about the recent stories of workers forced to sign contracts to train their replacements in order to receive severance pay.<<
Yes, well who am I to correct people’s comments on issues not covered in the article?
My reading was this was about voluntarily signing away rights to class actions against the employer.
On the one hand, I can see protection against class-action in the workforce when the unstated claim is that employment, job performance and pay, and assignments and promotions are based on an individual's merits. If people think they were discriminated against, they should individually sue.
From a collective perspective, if this were a collective bargaining situation (aka, unions), then this provision likely would not have been included. If the individuals want to collectivize, then perhaps they need an outside force to bring the suit against the company, such as a district attorney if there are systemic EEOC violations?
-PJ