Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is speaking out with colleagues after the U.S. Senate recently passed Speak Out Act (SCA) last week.
The Senate passed the SCA with bipartisan support, which would limit the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of workplace sexual harassment and assault. The act passed the chamber by a voice vote.
UPDATE: Last night, the Speak Out Act PASSED the Senate. This bipartisan bill makes clear that survivors have a right to speak out about sexual harassment or assault regardless of any predispute agreement they signed. Now onto the House and President Biden's desk! https://t.co/Y1EQ3sIOxz
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) September 30, 2022
According to a press release from Blackburn’s office, NDAs can be used under current law to prevent survivors of sexual harassment or assault from speaking publicly about these incidents. As a result of the threat of legal retaliation, predators can continue their illegal conduct while their victims are denied justice and forced to leave their careers.
Specifically, the SCA would:
- Prohibit the applicability of predispute NDAs between employers and current, former, and prospective employees, as well as independent contractors in cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment;
- Prohibit the applicability of predispute NDAs between providers of goods and services and consumers in cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment, and;
- Invalidate existing predispute NDAs in cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment that have not yet been filed.
Democrat Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Republican Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) originally sponsored the SCA in the Senate.
“Today, we took another big step in strengthening workplace protections and guarding against the use of predispute NDAs in sexual harassment and sexual assault cases, which are often used to coerce silence,” the senators said in a joint statement.“We look forward to the House passing this bill expeditiously so we can fix this broken system and help end the days of institutional protection for perpetrators.”
Moving forward, if the SCA’s companion bill passes in the House of Representatives, it will then go to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature to become law.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
