For Immediate Release: December 7th, 2022
Contact: JON CARVALHO

PRESS RELEASE

President Biden Signs Second Groundbreaking #MeToo Bill This Year

Two laws championed by Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky will protect millions of workers

Washington, DC – Today, President Joe Biden signed the Speak Out Act into law after bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. The legislation, which unanimously passed the Senate in September, prohibits the use of predispute nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. 

Along with the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2022, the Speak Out Act is landmark #MeToo legislation that makes the American workplace safer for survivors.  Both bills are the culmination of many years of advocacy by Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky, co-founders of the nonprofit Lift Our Voices.

The new law ensures that workers cannot be prevented from disclosing that they experienced or witnessed sexual assault or harassment in the workplace, even if they signed a nondisclosure agreement prior to when the abuse took place. Employers routinely use NDAs and other silencing mechanisms to prevent survivors and witnesses from disclosing toxic workplace experiences, enabling and protecting abusers.   

Earlier this year, thanks to Carlson’s and Roginsky’s advocacy, President Biden signed into law a ban on the use of forced arbitration in cases of sexual assault and harassment. Like the Speak Out Act, it passed with strong bipartisan support. 

“We are grateful for the support of the President and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, and now we have once again achieved the one, lasting protection that survivors deserve – a law to allow them to have the right to speak openly,” said Gretchen Carlson. “This common-sense law will protect millions of people by ensuring their right to speak out.”   

“These two laws mark the most expansive protections for workers in decades,” said Julie Roginsky. “This legislation will help to end the culture of silence that has prevented survivors and witnesses of abuse from speaking out about toxic workplace experiences.”

“Today’s bill was passed thanks in part to the extraordinary leadership of Gretchen Carlson and other survivors and advocates,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the White House press briefing on Wednesday afternoon. She also noted that the law adds to the protections ensured by the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act that the President signed earlier this year with the support of Lift Our voices. “Together these laws help protect the safety and wellbeing of American workers, and make our workplaces safer fairer and more just,” Jean-Pierre said. 

The Speak Out Act was co-sponsored by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representatives Lois Frankel (D-FL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Ken Buck (R-CO), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), David Cicilline (D-RI), Morgan Griffith (R-VA), and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). 

ABOUT LOV

Lift Our Voices (LOV) was launched in December 2019 to create positive, systemic change in American workplaces through the eradication of forced arbitration clauses and nondisclosure agreements for toxic workplace issues. Created and launched by Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky, LOV’s mission is to protect American workers by giving those in toxic work environments the freedom to speak freely about their workplace experiences and free them from the laws and business practices that prevent employees from publicly discussing toxic workplace conditions.