Salesforce Inc. has agreed to extend the protections of a California law to the rest of its U.S. employees, in another victory for a coalition that has set out to urge tech companies to adopt transparency in their employment contracts and essentially free employees from nondisclosure agreements.

San Francisco-based Salesforce CRM, -5.27% said Friday that by the end of the year, its entire U.S. workforce will have, at a minimum, the protections of the “Silenced No More Act.” According to the company’s latest annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, its U.S. workforce totals about 40,000.

The law that went into effect in January builds on existing state law that gives employees the right to speak out about sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, adding the ability to also talk about racism and other forms of abuse and harassment. It also bans companies from including broad confidentiality and nondisparagement clauses in settlement agreements. This means employees who agree to settlements with companies over any kind of abuse in the workplace will no longer have to keep quiet about why.

“Our employees are key stakeholders, and it’s critical that we offer them the support to ensure they’re happy, healthy and protected,” Salesforce’s announcement said. A spokeswoman said the company had no further comment.

Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Silenced No More Act into law, essentially rendering nondisclosure agreements useless for...

Read Full Story: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/salesforce-extends-silenced-no-more-act-pro...