Louisiana Employee and Severance NDA
Draft a Louisiana employee or severance NDA under La. R.S. 9:2717.3, which makes a pre-dispute required NDA over harassment unenforceable in court.
Introduction
An employee NDA is a confidentiality agreement between a company and a worker that protects the employer's trade secrets and confidential business information. A severance NDA is the version signed at separation, usually inside a release agreement, and it often keeps the terms of the exit private. What separates it from a commercial NDA between two businesses is who signs it: a worker cannot be forced to stay silent about unlawful conduct. In Louisiana, La. R.S. 9:2717.3, enacted in 2024, provides that no nondisclosure clause an employer requires and the worker agrees to before a hostile work environment or sexual harassment dispute is judicially enforceable as to that dispute. Timing is the point: it targets the pre-dispute clause and covers those disputes specifically, not general discrimination. DocDraft drafts a Louisiana-compliant employee or severance NDA from your facts, with that carve-out built in, and attorney review is available before anyone signs.
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Key Things to Know
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Louisiana's limit comes from La. R.S. 9:2717.3 (Act No. 781 of 2024). A nondisclosure clause an employer requires and the worker agrees to before a dispute is not judicially enforceable as to that dispute.
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Timing is what matters. The law targets a pre-dispute, employer-required NDA, the confidentiality term signed at or during hire before any hostile work environment or harassment dispute has arisen.
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The scope is hostile work environment and sexual harassment. Louisiana's statute covers those disputes specifically. It does not, by its terms, void an NDA that touches general discrimination.
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The remedy is unenforceability in court. Rather than voiding the whole agreement, the law makes the covered pre-dispute clause unenforceable by a court to the extent it would gag the worker about that dispute.
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A post-dispute confidential settlement is still allowed. Once a dispute has occurred or been reported, the parties may agree to keep a settlement confidential, because that confidentiality is negotiated rather than imposed in advance.
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It is a 2024 law. The restriction took effect August 1, 2024, so agreements drafted before then may not account for it and should be reviewed against the current rule.
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Trade secrets stay protectable, on the federal floor. Louisiana still lets an NDA protect legitimate confidential information, and the Speak Out Act, agency-reporting rights, and the Defend Trade Secrets Act notice apply on top.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Employee and Severance NDA in Louisiana, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Employee and Severance NDA guide walks through them.
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Louisiana Requirements for Employee and Severance NDA
Louisiana La. R.S. 9:2717.3
Draft a Louisiana employee or severance NDA under La. R.S. 9:2717.3, which makes a pre-dispute required NDA over harassment unenforceable in court.