Virginia Seeks to Prevent the Concealment of Sexual Harassment and Assault

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Patricia Tsipras

June 23, 2023

Effective July 1, 2023, Virginia has amended its laws regarding non-disclosure agreements in the hopes of preventing the concealment of details relating to allegations of sexual harassment or assault.  See 2022 Va. HB 1895.  Specifically, the new law prohibits employers from requiring that an individual execute or renew a non-disclosure, confidentiality, or non-disparagement provision in cases where the individual alleged sexual harassment or assault.

Virginia law already prohibits non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements relating to claims of sexual assault.  See Virginia Code § 40.1-28.1.  It now will also prohibit non-disparagement provisions relating to claims of sexual assault, and will extend the prohibition on non-disclosure, confidentiality, and non-disparagement provisions to claims of sexual harassment.  The law makes such agreements “void and unenforceable.”  Virginia law defines sexual harassment as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when such conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.”

The law appears to apply only to agreements executed as a condition of employment.  Thus, while the law may not appear to apply to separation agreements, employers should be mindful of the law when proffering any type of agreement to employees.

*Special thanks to Brooke Palma, our Office Administrator, for her contributions to this article.

The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania.  This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Virginia, or Pennsylvania, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist.  Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.