Executive Summary: Three new Virginia employment laws become effective July 1, 2023, and Virginia employers must understand and comply with these new rules. Virginia employers will need to update employee handbooks and confidentiality agreements, as well as change certain personnel practices to address these new state requirements.
Speak Out Laws
There is currently a nationwide campaign to pass state and federal “Speak Out” laws. These laws prohibit employment contract provisions that restrict employees’ ability to communicate about certain incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault (although some other state laws have an even broader application).
Virginia passed its own version of the “Speak Out Act,” which goes into effect July 1, 2023. The new Virginia version is different from the federal version that became law in December 2022. Due to these differences, employers must consider both the federal version and Virginia version when crafting confidentiality, severance, and settlement agreements.
The federal Speak Out Act provides that “[w]ith respect to a sexual assault dispute or sexual harassment dispute, no nondisclosure clause or nondisparagement clause agreed to before the dispute arises shall be judicially enforceable in instances in which conduct is alleged to have violated Federal, Tribal or State law.” (emphasis added). The federal statute therefore renders unenforceable nondisclosures and nondisparagement provisions that were signed before a dispute arose...
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