Condé Nast to Limit the Use of NDAs

Condé Nast, the publishing giant behind Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, said on Friday that it would no longer use nondisclosure agreements for matters involving harassment and discrimination.

Stan Duncan, the company’s chief people officer, laid out Condé Nast’s new stance in a memo to employees that was shared with The New York Times.

“There are legitimate arguments in favor of NDAs in certain circumstances, which is why their use remains widespread — confidential settlements can spare both employees and employers the cost of litigation, and maintain privacy for all involved,” Mr. Duncan wrote. “However, given our company’s values and commitment to transparency, we have decided that going forward, we will no longer enter into NDAs that prevent an employee from making a disclosure of conduct they were subjected to that they believe, in good faith, constitutes harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. We also expect to release existing NDAs in these matters.”

The executive added that the company would release people from existing nondisclosure agreements related to those matters on a case-by-case basis.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/business/media/conde-nast-nda.html