N.Y. General Obligations Law § 5-336: Nondisclosure agreements

§ 5-336. Nondisclosure agreements. 1. (a) Notwithstanding any other

law to the contrary, no employer, its officers or employees shall have

the authority to include or agree to include in any settlement,

agreement or other resolution of any claim, the factual foundation for

which involves discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, in violation

of laws prohibiting discrimination, including discriminatory harassment

or retaliation, including but not limited to, article fifteen of the

executive law, any term or condition that would prevent the disclosure

of the underlying facts and circumstances to the claim or action unless

the condition of confidentiality is the complainant's preference.

(b) Any such term or condition must be provided in writing to all

parties in plain English, and, if applicable, the primary language of

the complainant, and the complainant shall have up to twenty-one days to

consider such term or condition. If confidentiality is the complainant's

preference, such preference shall be memorialized in an agreement signed

by all parties. For a period of at least seven days following the

execution of such agreement, the complainant may revoke the agreement,

and the agreement shall not become effective or be enforceable until

such revocation period has expired.

(c) Any such term or condition shall be void to the extent that it

prohibits or otherwise restricts the complainant from: (i) initiating,

testifying, assisting, complying with a subpoena from, or participating

in any manner with an investigation conducted by the appropriate local,

state, or federal agency; or (ii) filing or disclosing any facts

necessary to receive unemployment insurance, Medicaid, or other public

benefits to which the complainant is entitled.

2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any provision

in a contract or other agreement between an employer or an agent of an

employer and any employee, potential employee, or independent contractor

of that employer entered into on or after January first, two thousand

twenty, that prevents the disclosure of factual information related to

any future claim of discrimination is void and unenforceable unless such

provision notifies the employee, potential employee, or independent

contractor that it does not prohibit the complainant from speaking with

law enforcement, the equal employment opportunity commission, the state

division of human rights, the attorney general, a local commission on

human rights, or an attorney retained by the employee or potential

employee.

3. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no release of any

claim, the factual foundation for which involves unlawful

discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, or retaliation,

shall be enforceable, if as part of the agreement resolving such claim:

(a) the complainant is required to pay liquidated damages for

violation of a nondisclosure clause or nondisparagement clause;

(b) the complainant is required to forfeit all or part of the

consideration for the agreement, for violation of a nondisclosure clause

or nondisparagement clause; or

(c) it contains or requires any affirmative statement, assertion, or

disclaimer by the complainant that the complainant was not in fact

subject to unlawful discrimination, including discriminatory harassment,

or retaliation.