Law360: One By One, States Are Banning NDAs To Protect Workers

April 4. 2022

ERA Policy Director & Deputy Legal Director Jessica Ramey Stender was interviewed by Law 360 about Washington’s new Silenced No More Act, outlawing nondisclosure agreements — corporate gag orders — in employment settlement agreements with workers who experienced sexual harassment, abuse, and discrimination. The bill was modeled after California’s Silenced No More Act, which passed last year, co-sponsored by ERA and part of our 2021 Stronger California Agenda.

“Washington’s adoption of these new workplace protections ‘is an important sign that legislators and the public are becoming more aware of the harm of NDAs, and it is an indicator that other states will similarly recognize the need for such protections,’ Stender said.”

“Stender said that given the strong bipartisan support for the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, she thinks there is momentum to pass additional reforms, including an effort underway in the Senate to bar certain nondisparagement or nondisclosure clauses from employment pacts.

‘Our lawmakers are finally recognizing the importance of protecting workers from sexual harassment and discrimination of all forms,’ Stender said. ‘We need continued movement in this area to ensure that employers are truly held accountable and actually change their practices to ensure that abuses can no longer go unchecked in their workplaces.'”

Read the article.