To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: On January 14, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) approved a formal opinion letter clarifying that non-U.S. citizen employees of American employers working outside the United States need not be included in disclosures required to waive age discrimination claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), as amended by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (“OWBPA”). OWBPA Requirements for Releasing ADEA Claims Employers conducting workforce reductions often seek a release of employment-related claims in exchange for severance. To release a claim of age discrimination under the federal ADEA (which protects individuals age 40 and over), any release agreement with a separated employee must comply with the requirements of the OWBPA. In that regard, when an employer requests a release in connection with an exit incentive or other employment termination program offered to two or more employees, the OWBPA requires the employer to provide terminated employees with a written disclosure describing the “class, unit, or group of individuals covered by such program”, known as the “decisional unit”. Among other things, the disclosure must also include the job titles and ages of all individuals within the decisional unit who were eligible or selected for the program, as well as the job titles and ages of those individuals within the decisional unit who were not eligible or selected for the program. The governing regulations also make clear that a decisional unit may consist of a department, division, or entire facility, and identifying the appropriate unit is often a fact-specific inquiry that turns on the employer’s termination criteria and decision-making process.