The Speak Out Act (S.4524) is an

Act of Congress An act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

which prevents the enforcement of

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

s in instances of sexual assault and harassment. Introduced by senator

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...

of New York during the second session of the 117th Congress, the legislation was approved unanimously in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and was passed by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

by a vote of 315 to 109. President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

signed the bill into law on December 7, 2022. Biden signing the Speak Out Act

Background

One of the

MeToo movement #MeToo is a social movement and Consciousness raising, awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was init ...

's primary targets was the enactment of

s, which MeToo leaders saw as a tool which sexual predators, especially within corporate American culture, could use in courts to prevent victims from raising concerns of inappropriate behaviors. Beginning mostly under the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

, Congress has responded in a variety of ways, most notably passing the ''Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act'' in March 2022, which bans the enforcement of

arbitration clause In contract law, an arbitration clause is a clause in a contract that requires the parties to resolve their disputes through an arbitration process. Although such a clause may or may not specify that arbitration occur within a specific jurisdict ...

s and

class action waiver A class action waiver is a provision found in some contracts which prohibits a party from filing a class action legal proceeding against the other party, or both parties waiving the right to file class actions against each other. Though used intern ...

s in cases of sexual harassment. Former ''

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'' anchor

Gretchen Carlson Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (born June 21, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist, writer, and television personality. Carlson was born and raised in Minnesota. A talented youth violinist, Carlson competed in a number of music contests befor ...

has been a major backer for both this bill as well as other ''MeToo'' inspired legislation. On the subject of non-disclosure agreements, Carlson called the vast outreach of the clauses "inane", and further indicated that many employees are pressured into signing these agreements on their first day of employment with a firm.

Congressional findings

In the text of the bill, Congress stated that it had found non-disclosure agreements to perpetuate illegal conduct. Congress also stated that while 81% of women had experienced sexual harassment and assault at work, 43% of men had also experienced similar treatment, and that the freedom to report such conduct should not be inhibited, which banning non-disclosure agreements would enable.

Legislative history

The bill was first introduced in July 2022 in the Senate by senator

with 9 Democratic and 5 Republican cosponsors, including judiciary committee chair

Dick Durbin Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Dem ...

and ranking member

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...

. The bill passed the

with

unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a propo ...

on September 29, 2022. The bill passed the house on November 16, 2022. Of the representatives voting, all 215 Democrats and 100

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

voted in favor, with 109 GOP members not supporting the legislation. Both parties' major leadership, including

Steny Hoyer Steny Hamilton Hoyer ( ; born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and retired attorney who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for since 1981. He also served as House Majority Leader from 2007 to 20 ...

and

Jim Clyburn James Enos Clyburn (born July 21, 1940) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for . First elected in 1992, Clyburn is in his 17th term, representing a congressional district that includes most of the majority-black precinc ...

on the Democratic side and

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January until he was Remova ...

Elise Stefanik Elise Marie Stefanik ( ; born July 2, 1984) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for . As chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2025, she was the fourth-ranking House Republican. Stefanik's district covers ...

and

Steve Scalise Stephen Joseph Scalise ( ; born October 6, 1965) is an American politician who has been the House majority leader since 2023 and the U.S. representative for since 2008. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was ...

on the Republican side, supported the bill's passage. Following completion of its Congressional stages, President

signed the bill into law on December 7, 2022.

Aftermath

Tiger Woods

The Speak Out Act came to prominence in March 2023, when professional golfer

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

was sued by former girlfriend Erica Herman and petitioned a judge to remove her from a 2017 NDA she signed with Woods. Herman's complaint cites the Speak Out Act and expresses belief that her NDA with Woods is invalid and unenforceable, though her complaint stated she was unsure on whether the non-disclosure agreement would enable discussions about her life with others.

Vin Diesel

Former assistant Asta Jonasson filed a lawsuit against Vin Diesel for sexual battery.

References

External links

Speak Out ActPDFdetails
as enacted in the US Statutes at Large
S.4524 - Speak Out Act
on

Congress.gov Congress.gov is the online database of United States Congress legislative information. Congress.gov is a joint project of the Library of Congress, the House, the Senate and the Government Publishing Office. Congress.gov was in beta in 2012, and ...

{{Joe Biden Acts of the 117th United States Congress Kirsten Gillibrand Sexual harassment in the United States