- Insider reviewed 36 tech workers’ nondisclosure agreements, providing one of the most comprehensive looks to date into the widely used contracts.
- The NDAs often contained overly broad language and many are likely unenforceable, employment lawyers said.
- New legislation in the wake of the MeToo movement could limit NDAs.
Kira isn’t allowed to talk about the business trip she took to Texas in 2019, when she says a male colleague drugged and raped her. She awoke the next morning to find his credit card on the floor of her hotel bathroom, her underwear torn, and her body bruised.
Kira canceled the second leg of her trip and flew home, where she called her boss to describe what happened. Her boss notified human resources, setting off a chain of events that made it impossible for Kira to continue working at the multibillion-dollar tech company where she was a contract manager.
At the end of a contentious legal mediation in the months that followed, Kira signed a settlement agreement that forced her to resign. In exchange for roughly a year’s worth of her salary, Kira is now bound to silence, facing the threat of steep financial penalties if she ever tells her story.