Earlier this year, we reported that Congress amended the Federal Arbitration Act to preclude compulsory binding arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment claims. This past week, Congress went a step further, passing the Speak Out Act, S. 4524, which is aimed at prohibiting prospective, pre-dispute non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements that prevent employees from discussing sexual harassment or sexual assault. The Senate passed the bill unanimously on September 29, 2022 and the House of Representatives voted in favor of the measure, 315-109, on November 17, 2022. President Biden has expressed his intention to sign the bill into law, and it will become effective immediately upon his signature.
The bipartisan federal legislation – the latest federal bill inspired by the #metoo movement and one that has been slowly gaining support over the past five years – applies only to pre-dispute nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements and similar clauses in employment agreements, rendering them null and void in instances in which sexual harassment or sexual assault is alleged in violation of federal, state, or tribal law. The goal of the bill is to prevent the use of pre-dispute agreements aimed at silencing employees from reporting sexual impropriety in the workplace. Similar measures have been passed at the state level in some jurisdictions (see, for example, our prior reporting regarding analogous California, Illinois, Maryland, and Vermont here, here, and here, to name just a few), but when President Biden signs the Speak Out Act, as he has indicated he will do, the law becomes immediately effective nationwide.
Earlier versions of the Speak Out Act included language precluding non-disclosure clauses as applied to claims of race, age, national origin, and similar equal employment opportunity claims, but the bill was stripped back to apply only to claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault in its final form. President Biden’s administration urges further legislation to address the use of non-disclosure agreements used to prevent discussion of other types of labor violations, but as a practical matter, the National Labor Relations Act already protects the right of covered employees to engage in protected, concerted activity – such as discussing workplace discrimination, assault, and harassment – and existing EEO laws protect employees engaged in conduct aimed at asserting their own rights or cooperating with other employees in protecting their rights.
Furthermore, the Speak Out Act only precludes the use of pre-dispute non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements, meaning those signed before the unlawful conduct begins. It does not prevent employers and employees from agreeing to confidential settlements after alleged sexual harassment or abuse occurs. Parties remain free to enter into such arrangements, provided that employers still cannot preclude employees from reporting violations of EEO laws to agencies entrusted with enforcing such laws, like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employers may still require non-disclosure agreements to protect trade secrets and confidential business information, and may still include confidentiality provisions in severance agreements. Consequently, the Speak Out Act is not as much a sea change itself as a recommitment by Congress and the Administration to expanding measures aimed at transparency around sexual misconduct in the workplace. Employers should review existing handbook policies and standard non-disclosure agreements to ensure compliance with the Speak Out Act, but that should be just one small step in a comprehensive audit of sexual harassment policies, reporting mechanisms, and investigation procedures.
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