Outgoing Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock gave five-figure payments to three top executives this year for resigning and promising never to sue or talk negatively about her or her office. The unusual payouts to the senior officials were among 14 separation agreements Bock arranged this year for departing employees. The agreements awarded employees with extra severance pay if they agreed never to sue or “disparage the Clerk” in the future. Bock’s administration insisted on the non-disparagement provisions despite a state law barring government agencies from using severance pay to restrict employees’ ability to discuss the disputes that prompted their departures, The Palm Beach Post found.