Washington state passes the Silenced No More Act, becoming the second state to ban NDAs preventing workers from discussing harassment, wage violations, and more
Washington state became the second in the nation to pass the Silenced No More Act on Thursday. Tweets: @cherthedev , @ifeomaozoma , @lizberrywa , @karenkeiser1 , @wasendemocrats , @levisu , @mmitchell_ai , and @mmitchell_ai Tweets: @cherthedev : WE DID IT! I've spent countless hours working on HB 1795 with @LizBerryWA, @KarenKeiser1, @wela_law, @IfeomaOzoma, @nsapiro, writing to senators (like @KenFockele!), house representatives, journalists, and public outreach. I'm so grateful for everyone. https://www.protocol.com/... @ifeomaozoma : It's impossible to overstate the impact of this bill passing in Washington. I'm so proud of @cherthedev and everyone else who worked tirelessly to make this a reality. Major NDA reform in two tech industry dominant states in two years. This is what I mean by *tangible* progress. https://twitter.com/... Rep. Liz Berry / @lizberrywa : Shout out to my #waleg Senate partner @KarenKeiser1! #SilencedNoMore https://twitter.com/... Karen Keiser / @karenkeiser1 : Great bill to protect freedom of speech for employees dealing with harassment discrimination or wage theft who had NDA gag rules threatening lawsuits https://twitter.com/... @wasendemocrats : The Senate just passed #HB1795 to prevent employers from using non-disclosure agreements to silence workers who have been harassed or discriminated against. There's no place for these exploitative tactics in WA. #SilencedNoMore #waleg https://twitter.com/... Levi Sumagaysay / @levisu : And the work by two former Apple and Google employees who helped pass the Silenced No More Act in Washington state, which @issielapowsky wrote about: https://www.protocol.com/... MMitchell / @mmitchell_ai : This bill has been championed by my fellow Washington women in tech who've undergone discrimination, especially @cherthedev and @chelseyglasson. We built on the work, trauma and discrimination of @IfeomaOzoma and @erikashimizu before us. Thank you @LizBerryWA @KarenKeiser1!! https://twitter.com/... MMitchell / @mmitchell_ai : Holy moly, #SilencedNoMore PASSED here in WA now! Companies can no longer use NDAs to prevent workers from talking about instances of illegal harassment and discrimination, retaliation, sexual assault and wage violations! https://www.protocol.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second act of a campaign that started with Ifeoma Ozoma, who left Pinterest and helped draft the original California bill expanding NDA carve-outs beyond sexual harassment to all discrimination. Governor Newsom signed that bill into law last October, and Ozoma has since built supporting infrastructure for complainants with the Tech Worker Handbook.
Washington's HB 1795, carried by Rep. Liz Berry and Sen. Karen Keiser with Ozoma and Cher Scarlett among the advocates, copies the California template almost wholesale — covering harassment, discrimination, retaliation, sexual assault, and wage violations. Two of the country's biggest tech-state labor markets now have the same rule, which matters because most tech employers operate in both.
First-order effects
- Workers in Washington can no longer be bound by NDAs that gag discussion of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, sexual assault, or wage violations — separation and settlement agreements signed going forward lose their silencing power over those topics.
- Employers with large Washington footprints — Amazon, Microsoft, and the Seattle-area startup ecosystem — must redraft standard severance and arbitration paperwork to comply, just as they did for California after Newsom signed the first version.
Second-order effects
- Companies operating in both states will likely simplify by dropping discriminatory-conduct NDAs nationwide rather than maintaining two agreement templates, effectively extending the protection to workers in states with no such law.
- The verified two-state playbook — an affected ex-employee turned drafter, local legislative sponsors, public tweet-driven pressure — is now a reusable template that advocates can shop to other statehouses.
Third-order effects
- If more states adopt the model, the NDA stops being a default instrument of exit settlements in tech, shifting leverage in workplace disputes from the employer's legal department toward public disclosure.
- The campaign also signals a structural shift in how tech labor grievances get resolved: individual complaints and press leaks are being converted into statute, making state legislatures — not HR or the courts alone — the venue where workplace speech rules are set.
The trend: State legislatures are becoming the primary battleground where tech workers convert individual discrimination disputes into durable speech protections, with activist-drafted bills propagating state by state.