Why some US workers may never speak out against employers
In late 2022, Kim, a 28-year-old tech worker, was laid off from her job at a start-up. “My severance offer was pretty generous, but in order to get it, I signed a long agreement basically saying that I wouldn’t talk about anything that happened while I was at the company,” explains Kim, whose last name is being withheld to protect her employment security. “It was presented to me as a simple protocol – a document that everyone who left had to sign – and I didn’t really think about it too much.”
Since she signed that document, however, the conditions around these common non-disparagement clauses have changed. In February, the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced most companies could no longer ban workers from publicly sharing negative remarks about their former employers. The NLRB, which is a federal agency, also determined that employers could not stop a former worker from sharing the size and nature of a particular severance deal.
This law, designed to protect a worker’s ability to publicly share the terms and conditions of their severance package, has been hailed a victory for employee rights. Indeed, the decision goes some way towards establishing transparency in corporate culture.
