Meta’s non-disparagement clauses get tossed as regulators loosen worker contracts
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The right to bad-mouth Zuck… 7.2K ex-Meta employees can go ahead and post that juicy Glassdoor review now. The National Labor Relations Board last week ruled that thousands of laid-off Meta staffers were pressured to sign unlawful separation agreements to receive better severance pay and other benefits during the company’s 2022 mass layoffs. Meta’s separation packages included confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses: agreements that prohibit ex-employees from saying anything negative about a company (including venting to your pals).
Mum’s the word: Former “Metamates” were also barred from talking about wages, hours, working conditions, and the terms of their separation agreements.
Let ’em vent: Meta was ordered to stop offering similar contracts and to notify anyone who’d signed them that those clauses have been revoked.
Safeguarding severances… Non-disparagement clauses have become widespread in the tech industry, leading the labor board to rule last year that they aren’t legal in severance packages. In March, the board filed a complaint against SpaceX for using the agreements. In May, OpenAI apologized after reports found that some departing employees were threatened with the loss of their vested equity if they didn’t sign restrictive exit docs. In Meta’s case, the judge ruled that making public statements about employers is central to workers’ right to unionize. It’s the latest in a series of Biden admin pushes to protect workplace rights.
Cubicle walls are coming down… In similar rulings protecting departing employees, the FTC this year banned noncompete clauses, and bills limiting “stay or pay” clauses have popped up in states including California and New York. The regulations have coincided with a rise in workplace transparency. Sharing salaries has become less taboo among younger employees, and layoff videos have become their own genre on TikTok.