Saying her new directive will “ensure greater accountability and promote transparency,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has released her first Executive Directive of 2021 and it takes up the use of separation agreements by state departments and agencies, essentially “safeguarding the state from costly litigation.”
Gov. Whitmer says, “The measures laid out in my Executive Directive ensure greater accountability and promote transparency,” and adds, “Michiganders should have confidence in the activities of state government, including the expenditure of public funds on separation agreements. I am proud of these measures because they will benefit both state employees and the people of Michigan.”
The State of Michigan is one of the largest employers in the state. As with any workplace, employees leave for any number of reasons, including good faith disputes, professional opportunities, performance issues, health challenges, or family emergencies. Separation agreements are used for many purposes, including to define the terms of employment during a period of transition; to secure the return of state property; and to mitigate legal exposure and potential costs to taxpayers through a release of claims against the state.
Executive Directive No. 2021-01 outlines rules for separation agreements used by the executive branch.
The directive prohibits terms in separation agreements that require a party to deny the existence of the agreement or prevent the release of the text of the agreement.
In addition, the directive provides that any separation agreement involving a monetary payment must secure a release of claims and be based on a reasonable judgment that securing the release of claims will mitigate financial risk for the state and protect taxpayer money.
Under the new directive, separation agreements cannot deny a party the right or opportunity to disclose the underlying facts and circumstances regarding unlawful workplace acts including discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, or fraud. A clause that protects the identity of a victim, however, may be included at the request of the victim.
Finally, prior to finalization, all separation agreements must be submitted to the Attorney General for review.
The new Executive Directive is effective immediately and can be viewed in full at this link:
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/0,9309,7-387-90499_90704-554375–,00.html
In response to the directive, Michigan Freedom Fund Executive Director Tony Daunt provided the following statement:
“Michigan residents of all stripes are demanding answers from Governor Whitmer about the secret hush money deal she engineered to buy the silence of her fired health department director, but instead, today she brazenly doubled down on secrecy.
“Governor Whitmer’s new directive is a direct and arrogant assault on Michiganians’ right to know what their government is doing. It will make government less transparent, it will mean more-common secrecy agreements, and it will force taxpayers to fund her administration’s cover-up attempts.”
The Michigan Freedom Fund renewed its demanded that Whitmer publicly and formally come clean about the resignation of former Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon, and his time leading the department responsible for the state’s response to COVID-19.
Daunt says that details of the secret, taxpayer funded agreement came to light yesterday thanks to excellent reporting from the Detroit News that revealed Gordon was paid $155,506 in taxpayer funds to keep quiet about the circumstances surrounding his abrupt January resignation.
Daunt adds, “The deal, and today’s attack on government transparency flies in the face of Whitmer’s January 3, 2019 executive directives and numerous other transparency pledges focused on assuring ‘a good, ethical state government?’”
