2023 New York Laws › GOB - General Obligations › Article 5 - Creation, Definition and Enforcement of Contractual Obligations › Title 3 - Certain Prohibited Contracts and Provisions of Contracts › 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.