The Layoff Decision Before the Lawsuit: Planning and Implementing a Reduction in Force, Including Severance and Releases

Daniel G. Prokott, Partner | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Daniel G. Prokott is a partner in Faegre Drinker’s Minneapolis office, where he counsels employers on planning and carrying out restructurings and voluntary and involuntary workforce reductions, including WARN Act compliance and the release requirements of the ADEA and OWBPA. He leads the firm’s global HR compliance, training, and transactions team and prepares the severance plans and separation and release agreements that accompany employee exits. His clients range from multinational public companies and privately held businesses to emerging companies and nonprofit organizations.

• Education & Credentials

Dan earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Mitchell Hamline School of Law in 2001, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review, and his B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in 1997, with Dean’s List honors. After law school, he clerked for the Hon. James Gilbert of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002. He is admitted to practice in Minnesota and California and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

• Recognition & Leadership

Chambers USA has ranked Dan in Minnesota Labor & Employment from 2021 through 2026, and Best Lawyers has listed him for Employment Law – Management from 2021 through 2027. Minnesota Super Lawyers recognized him in 2024 and earlier named him a Rising Star in Employment & Labor in 2005, 2007, and 2009 through 2016. He chaired the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section in 2019–20, after serving as its Secretary and Treasurer and then Vice Chair. His pro bono service has been recognized by the Pro Bono Council of the MSBA’s Access to Justice Committee in coordination with the Minnesota Supreme Court (2020), by the Tubman Safety Project as its Attorney of the Year (2013), and through the Baker Benson Pro Bono Award (2017) and multiple firm Pro Bono Honor Roll listings.

• Professional Involvement

Dan speaks and writes regularly on workforce reductions. He has presented on WARN Act compliance for Strafford in November 2022 and October 2025 and for the Federal Bar Association and myLawCLE in February 2023, and on drafting severance and confidentiality agreements amid SEC, EEOC, and NLRB scrutiny for Strafford in October 2023 and October 2024. His Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute programs in 2023 and 2025 addressed planning, implementation, risk mitigation, and compliance in workforce restructurings and reductions, and Minnesota CLE published his Summary Guide on workforce restructurings and reductions in force in May 2025. In 2025 he also spoke with SHRM about HR tips for layoffs.

Within the bar and his community, Dan served on the MSBA Labor and Employment Section’s Governing Council from 2013 to 2020 and co-chaired the MSBA Civic Education Committee from 2009 to 2012. He has served on the boards of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library (2014–23), including as HR Committee Chair, and Lifetrack (2014–21), including as Chair, and he takes pro bono matters through the Tubman Pro Bono Safety Project and the Volunteer Lawyers Network.

• Experience

Dan’s counseling work centers on the decisions that come before an employee separation: structuring voluntary and involuntary reductions, applying ADEA and OWBPA release requirements, and assessing WARN obligations. He drafts disciplinary documentation, severance plans, and separation and release agreements in complex discharge matters, and he advises individual executives and management teams negotiating employment and separation agreements. His litigation background shapes how he evaluates employment decisions, since he weighs how employees and their counsel could challenge them in court or before administrative agencies.

His broader practice covers hiring practices, non-competition, non-solicitation, and confidentiality agreements, FMLA, ADA, and FLSA questions, wage-and-hour compliance audits, state and local employment law compliance, and employment issues in stock and asset sale transactions.

Erik A. Mosvick, Associate | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Erik A. Mosvick is an associate in Faegre Drinker’s Denver and Minneapolis offices whose employee relations practice includes reorganizations, reductions in force, and separations. He counsels executives and management teams in negotiating and drafting separation agreements, and he advises on the labor law issues raised when union and non-union facilities are reorganized, consolidated, relocated, or closed. His background spans in-house, secondment, and law firm roles serving employers in industries from finance and health care to manufacturing and hospitality.

• Education & Credentials

Erik received his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2013 and his B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 2010. He clerked for the Hon. Lois Conroy of Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District Court from 2013 to 2015. He is admitted to practice in Minnesota and Colorado, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

• Recognition & Leadership

Chambers USA has ranked Erik in Colorado Labor & Employment for 2025 and 2026. His pro bono work has earned him places on the Faegre Drinker Pro Bono Honor Roll in 2021 and 2025 and on the Faegre Baker Daniels Pro Bono Honor Roll in 2017 and 2018.

• Professional Involvement

Erik follows state and federal employment legislation and agency enforcement priorities and writes often on Colorado employment law, including “New Year, New Rules for Colorado Employers” in Law Week Colorado (December 2023) and a two-part series on Colorado employee protection and rights in the workplace in HR Legal & Compliance Excellence (2023). His restrictive covenant writing includes “Top 10 Noncompete Developments of 2024,” republished in Law360 in January 2025, and “A Year of Contrasts and Crackdowns in Noncompete Agreements,” republished in Employee Benefit Plan Review in March 2026. He delivers legal trainings to HR and business leaders, belongs to the Colorado Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section, contributes to the firm’s LaborSphere blog, and handles pro bono matters through the Volunteer Lawyers Network and for local nonprofit organizations.

• Experience

Erik’s employee relations counseling covers reorganizations and reductions in force, separations, discipline, internal investigations, leaves and accommodations, wage and hour issues, state and local compliance, and employment matters in corporate transactions. His litigation and mediation experience lets him show clients how an employment decision would be presented and defended if challenged, and he has represented employers in state and federal courts, in arbitration, and before the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, and the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

Earlier in his career, Erik served as counsel to an international public mountain resort company, advising HR, senior leadership, and executives on U.S. and Canadian labor and employment matters, and before that he was an associate at legacy Faegre Baker Daniels, with secondments at private and public employers. He also handles grievance arbitrations, NLRB unfair labor practice proceedings, responses to union organizing, and restrictive covenant matters for multi-state employers. During law school, he prosecuted for the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office, worked with the NLRB’s Region 18 office, represented individuals in unemployment hearings, and clerked for a first responders’ labor union.

SESSION 1 – Planning and Implementing a Reduction in Force: Selection Criteria, Disparate Impact, and WARN Compliance | Daniel G. Prokott & Erik A. Mosvick | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session examines the legal and practical considerations involved in planning and implementing a reduction in force before litigation risk materializes. Attendees will learn how to establish objective selection criteria, evaluate disparate-treatment and disparate-impact risks, and document decisions to support legitimate business justifications. The discussion will also address federal and state notice obligations, including under the federal WARN Act and state mini-WARN laws, and strategies for coordinating layoffs across multiple locations while managing timing, approvals, and employee communications.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Severance and Releases in Individual and Group Separations: OWBPA Compliance and State-Specific Considerations | Daniel G. Prokott & Erik A. Mosvick | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session focuses on structuring severance arrangements and drafting enforceable employee releases in both individual and group separations. Attendees will examine the release requirements unique to group terminations, including the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) disclosure and timing rules, as well as state-specific release considerations for individual separations in key jurisdictions such as Colorado and Illinois.