alt Hacker NewsIf non disparagement agreements weren’t allowed wouldn’t employers have less reason to make severance payments? We would expect average severance payment amounts to decrease under this scenario. So it’s not clear that this is the ideal outcome to employees, who might prefer more $.
I have been required to sign non disparagement agreements to gain employment and given zero severance for all but one job in my career.
Non disclosures, non disparagements, and non solicits, are thrown out like candy by companies while severance payouts are rare outside of the largest orgs. Non compete agreements were also so prevalent that that we had subway sandwich makers being bound by them leading to them being bound and as I just learned when trying to find a source for that I discovered that ban has been abandoned by the current admin[1]
[1] https://www.npr.org/2025/09/05/nx-s1-5528937/ftc-noncompete-...