Some employers see "stay-or-pay" contract terms as a way to keep workers on the job longer at a time when traditional noncompete clauses are falling out of favor, said Jonathan Harris, a law professor who studies such agreements.

More employers who are dismissing workers are opting to deliver the bad news remotely, but a face-to-face meeting is seen as reducing the chance of future litigation.

After the killing of its CEO and the manhunt for the suspect recedes from the public's attention, UnitedHealthcare will still face a heavy load of lawsuits over its reimbursement practices.

Employers should prepare for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to pay more attention to the caliber of their internal investigations into workplace harassment, some employment lawyers said.

Requiring workers who smoke to pay more for health insurance violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by unfairly targeting employees because of their health status, according to the suit.

Most of the cases focused on gender discrimination, but two of the suits alleged pregnancy discrimination and two others claimed mistreatment of transgender employees.

"Defendant Regent made the calculated decision, in consultation with its lawyers, that it could save money because of an alleged loophole in the WARN Act; namely, that it supposedly did not apply to fully or partially remote workers. However, that is not correct," the suit claims.

"As the largest employer in the world, Amazon makes clear that it does not believe the law applies to it and that they are free to treat their employees how they see fit. The law does not support this belief," the plaintiff said in a court filing.