On Monday, California state Senator Connie Leyva introduced the Silenced No More Act, a bill that advocates say will protect employees who speak out about discrimination at work, even if they’ve signed nondisclosure agreements.
“SB 331 will prevent workers from being forced to sign non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements that would limit their ability to speak out about harassment and discrimination in the workplace,” Leyva said in a statement. “It is unacceptable for any employer to try to silence a worker because he or she was a victim of any type of harassment or discrimination—whether due to race, sexual orientation, religion, age or any other characteristic.”
The newly introduced legislation builds on work by Ifeoma Ozoma, a former Pinterest employee who went public in June, alongside her colleague Aerica Shimizu Banks, with allegations of racism and sexism at the company. Ozoma knew she was partially covered by a California law called CCP 1001, which…