A CA bill aims to let workers under NDA gags speak out about any discrimination, not just sexual harassment; ex-Pinterest employee Ifeoma Ozoma helped draft it
Emily Birnbaum / Protocol : Tweets: @equalrightsadv , @protocol , @protocol , @dgorganize , @issielapowsky , @birnbaum_e , @erikashimizu , and @birnbaum_e Tweets: EqualRightsAdvocates / @equalrightsadv : “A worker who has been subjected to discrimination or harassment in the workplace has already suffered a trauma,” @jstender415 said. “So to impose a gag order on them & tell them 'you can't talk to anyone about this...' is to inflict yet another harm"(1/4) https://www.protocol.com/... @protocol : NDAs are nearly ubiquitous in Silicon Valley, but those NDAs prevent real change from happening, gagging workers who would otherwise may speak out about how they were treated at the tech giants. https://www.protocol.com/... @protocol : California State Senator Connie Leyva introduced the Silenced No More Act, or SB 331, today. https://www.protocol.com/... Daniel Gross / @dgorganize : You better believe the bosses are nervous. Covering up their dirty work with NDAs is standard operating procedure. https://twitter.com/... Issie Lapowsky / @issielapowsky : NEW: A CA law could give employees with discrimination claims a way out of their NDAs. The bill was influenced by ex-Pinterest employee @IfeomaOzoma and follows similar legislation related to sex-discrimination passed in the wake of #MeToo @birnbaum_e https://www.protocol.com/... Emily Birnbaum / @birnbaum_e : A 2018 bill from Leyva allows California workers to speak out about sex-based discrimination. But this bill would cover all legally-protected categories, including race, ethnicity, disability, religion, etc. https://www.protocol.com/... Aerica Shimizu Banks / @erikashimizu : “What I would love is for any company or organization who opposes [this legislation] to put out a statement explaining why the forms of discrimination they're employing in their workplace should be kept quiet.” @IfeomaOzoma #SilencedNoMore https://twitter.com/... Emily Birnbaum / @birnbaum_e : NEW: A new bill would allow every person in California to speak out about workplace abuse, even after signing an NDA. @IfeomaOzoma has been working on this legislation with workplace rights advocates and California CA Senator Connie Leyva for months. https://www.protocol.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The Silenced No More Act began as a response to the Pinterest discrimination controversy, where ex-employee Ifeoma Ozoma's settlement left her legally unable to discuss what happened. She and Aerica Shimizu Banks worked with State Senator Connie Leyva on SB 331, which widens an existing carve-out — until now limited to sexual harassment — so workers bound by NDAs can speak about discrimination across all protected categories.
The bill's later trajectory shows why this introduction mattered: Gov. Newsom signed it into law eight months later, Washington passed its own version within a year, and Salesforce extended the protections company-wide after shareholder pressure.
First-order effects
- California workers covered by NDAs gain the right to publicly name discrimination based on any protected category, not just sexual harassment, stripping employers of the confidentiality clause as an enforcement tool.
- Companies like Pinterest, whose settlements rely on gag provisions, face a workforce that can now detail allegations without legal exposure.
Second-order effects
- Other state legislatures get a ready-made template — Washington's adoption of the same-named act shows the bill travels — forcing multi-state employers to either patchwork compliance or adopt the broadest standard everywhere.
- Voluntary adoption becomes a shareholder issue: Salesforce extended the act's protections to all US employees under investor pressure, turning NDA scope into a governance vote.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the near-ubiquitous Silicon Valley practice of settling discrimination claims under permanent confidentiality erodes state by state, shifting leverage from legal departments toward workers and the support infrastructure around them, like Ozoma's Tech Worker Handbook.
- Employers may respond by restructuring settlements themselves — narrower NDAs, shorter terms — rather than waiting for each new state law to invalidate their existing agreements.
The trend: State legislatures are systematically unwinding workplace NDAs, with California's Silenced No More Act serving as the model other states and shareholders now push employers to adopt.