On March 24, 2022, Washington’s Silenced No More Act (formally known as Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1795) was signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. As a result, Washington has become the second state to declare certain nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions in employment and independent contractor agreements illegal. California passed its own version of the Silenced No More Act last year.
The Washington Silenced No More Act is scheduled to take effect on June 9, 2022. Once enacted, the law will effectively bar Washington employers from using nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions – including those contained in employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, agreements to pay compensation in exchange for the release of a legal claim, or any other agreement between an employer and a current, former or prospective employee or independent contractor – to prevent such workers from disclosing certain violations of law. Specifically, the Act makes void and unenforceable any “provision in an agreement by an employer and an employee not to disclose or discuss conduct, or the existence of a settlement involving conduct, that the employee reasonably believed under Washington state, federal, or common law to be illegal discrimination, illegal harassment, illegal retaliation, a wage and hour violation, or sexual assault, or that is recognized as against a clear mandate of public policy,” where the conduct occurred “at the workplace, at work-related events...
The HYDRA Commissioner has clarified that HYDRA will not interfere with houses built in old layouts on ULC (Urban Land Ceiling) lands , nor with unregularised vacant plots in such layouts. He urge...