Gov. Newsom signs Silenced No More Act, which ex-Pinterest employee Ifeoma Ozoma helped draft, to protect CA workers who call out discrimination despite NDAs
if they so wish—when they are a victim of any type of harassment or discrimination in the workplace. #EmpowerSurvivors Release: https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/... https://twitter.com/... Ifeoma Ozoma / @ifeomaozoma : WE DID IT!😭 Words can't fully capture what this means but we named the bill Silenced No More so I'll say a bit.😂 Abusing workers then forcing silence - under the threat of lost income and healthcare - is depraved. As of Jan 1, 40 MILLION people no longer have to stay silent. https://twitter.com/... Nicole Sanchez / @nmsanchez : Congratulations to @IfeomaOzoma and to all of us who have lived under NDAs that protect harassment and discrimination by former employers. I look forward to people being able to tell their stories https://twitter.com/... Jacob Ward / @byjacobward : On January 1st non-disclosure agreements, which have kept a lid on quite a lot, will become illegal in California for workers speaking out about harassment, discrimination, or other illegal activity. https://twitter.com/... @whistlestopcptl : The Silenced No More Act has serious ramifications for companies relying on NDAs to keep employees quiet about their mistreatment. California is the 5th biggest economy in the world. There's no large company this doesn't touch. https://twitter.com/... Deb Raji / @rajiinio : The thing I admire the most about Ifeoma is that even long after she'd freed herself, she turned back and committed every ounce of energy she had to freeing everyone else too! 💕 Not someone to be messed with! https://twitter.com/... Jessica Ramey Stender / @jstender415 : So proud to have worked with you on this @IfeomaOzoma! Thank you for speaking out and fighting to change the law to ensure workers are no longer silenced! @CELA_Lawyers @EqualRightsAdv @SenatorLeyva https://twitter.com/... Bo Ren / @bosefina : We all know NDAs are created to protect the abusers. @IfeomaOzoma transmuted her trauma to help millions of others who are oppressed in a system not designed for them. This is history made today!!! 💥 https://twitter.com/... Timnit Gebru / @timnitgebru : Huge news. Thank you so much for all this work and girl you deserve to take a nap for as long as you need. We owe you so much. I can't believe how many things you've changed in the last year. https://twitter.com/... Kim Scott / @kimballscott : Silenced no more!! I've never known anyone who put being treated unjustly to more productive use than @IfeomaOzoma. I stand in awe :) https://twitter.com/... Kate Rotondo / @krotondo : Workers in California will be legally protected for speaking out about discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, disability, and age. https://twitter.com/... Ashley M. Gjøvik / @ashleygjovik : This is FANTASTIC news! 🎉 Thank you for everything you do, @IfeomaOzoma! You are a remarkable person & we are all grateful for you. 💙💙💙 https://twitter.com/... Ashley M. Gjøvik / @ashleygjovik : In case you're wondering, yup, there's still more I haven't told you about the abuse I suffered at #Apple. Plenty more. Stay tuned. Yael Eisenstat / @yaeleisenstat : @IfeomaOzoma YESSSS!!!! You are the shining example of how to take what happened to you and turn it into true action. Bravo! Bo Ren / @bosefina : @IfeomaOzoma THIS IS HUUUUUGEEEEEEEEEE!!!! You have liberated so many. I am so inspired and moved by how you move thru this world. ❤️🔥 @karlitaliliana : You hear that? It's the sound of many corporate knees shaking. @IfeomaOzoma you went through a terrible experience, blew a tremendous whistle, and insured no one had to experience the worst of it in silence ever again. The ultimate in “fucked around and found out” https://twitter.com/... @samidh : First, we need to keep the discussion focused on the issues raised, and not on the people or teams involved, which just distracts from sustaining the societal conversation we need to have. (This was the gist of my tweets yesterday and is a prereq for any shot at progress). @samidh : Second, we need quick congressional action to create a new consumer online protection bureau similar in spirit to the CFPB. It's unwise to try to solve all problems via omnibus legislation. Better to setup a smart regulatory apparatus that can be more nimble & staffed w/ experts. @samidh : Leaks give a selective view of the truth, discount the genuine progress that safety-oriented teams have made, and warp the public's sense of what solutions are actually possible. More on this from my thread a few weeks ago: https://twitter.com/... @samidh : Leaks also erode trust within teams, making knowledge sharing more difficult, which in turn weakens their capacity to advocate for meaningful change. We need these teams to be empowered, not the opposite. @samidh : Let's start with the problems. Leaks oftentimes reveal the names of staff members or research participants who have tough things to say about very dangerous entities (autocrats, criminal gangs, etc). This puts them and their families at great risk, especially overseas. @samidh : So while leaks may seem revelatory, they usually backfire in the long-term. As the dopamine dwindles, we're left with a public whose understanding hasn't been properly advanced and a pool of internal champions that's been hollowed out. @samidh : Finally we need workers of conscience within the platforms + across the industry to have the courage to organize. For now they're the only ones that can hold their companies accountable (such as by demanding employee-elected Board seats). It's time their voices were truly heard. @samidh : Given what's already happened can't be undone, how can we make the most constructive use of this unique moment in time? What can lead to lasting change even after this media cycle subsides (which it almost certainly will within the next few days)? @samidh : Unpopular opinion, but I have always condemned leaks, even today. They are typically counterproductive and put people at risk. My hope for this moment is that real public oversight of FB can be established and make future leaks inconsequential. Here's why and how. 🧵... Ifeoma Ozoma / @ifeomaozoma : I'm so grateful for every single person who played a role in getting this LAW made. Thank you for giving a damn. It was a blessing to pour hundreds of hours, emails, texts, calls, zoom meetings into such meaningful work with a team of brilliant women. Now we celebrate. And nap! Ifeoma Ozoma / @ifeomaozoma : Thank you @SenatorLeyva, Golly, & Sergio for championing this from the start. SB331 couldn't have had a better author. Thanks @CELA_Lawyers (Mariko!!) & @EqualRightsAdv (Jess!!) for being the best cosponsors. @iamleahbarros thank you for shepherding me through this process. @zoeschiffer : Breaking: Governor Gavin Newsom just signed the Silenced No More Act to protect whistleblowers in California. @IfeomaOzoma has been pushing the bill forward since she came forward with allegations of racism at Pinterest last year. https://twitter.com/... Grace Gedye / @gracegedye : BREAKING: Governor @GavinNewsom signs #SB331, which bans employers from using secret settlements to prevent workers from speaking out about all kinds of illegal harassment or discrimination. More in our @CalMatters write up of bills worth watching here: https://calmatters.org/... Erica Joy / @ericajoy : the silenced no more act is going to change the game. no more shuffling abusers around from team to team and company to company, while their victims are silenced by the fear of neverending legal battles with companies w/ deep pockets. the sunlight is about to shine super bright.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Silenced No More Act began in February as a California bill to let workers under NDAs speak out about any discrimination, not just sexual harassment, with ex-Pinterest employee Ifeoma Ozoma — who described her own experience with a workplace settlement in April's New York Times profile of why she helped draft it — as a driving force behind the drafting.
With Newsom's signature, the bill becomes law effective January 1, covering roughly 40 million Californians, and lands in the same legislative session that produced a new requirement for Amazon and other employers to disclose productivity quotas — a broader Sacramento push against opaque workplace practices.
First-order effects
- California workers who sign settlement agreements with nondisclosure clauses can now publicly discuss harassment and discrimination they experienced without forfeiting income or healthcare tied to those agreements, starting January 1.
- Employers lose the ability to use NDAs to keep discrimination cases quiet, removing the legal threat that has made silence the price of severance.
Second-order effects
- Tech companies' standard practice of settling employee complaints with confidentiality agreements weakens in their largest home state, pushing them toward resolving disputes without gag terms or facing public allegations anyway.
- The statute gives advocates and legislators in other states a ready-made template, which is exactly how Washington state picked it up months later.
Third-order effects
- If the state-by-state adoption continues, confidentiality clauses around workplace discrimination become legally unenforceable across major labor markets, shifting leverage from employers' legal departments toward individual workers with public claims.
- The act pairs with disclosure mandates like California's quota-reporting law to normalize state intervention in employment practices tech companies previously handled privately, raising compliance costs for multistate employers who must now tailor policies jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
The trend: State legislatures are steadily dismantling employer-controlled secrecy around workplace misconduct, turning what was once a private settlement matter into public, enforceable worker rights one state at a time.