Question 1

What is an employee NDA, and how is a severance NDA different?

Accepted Answer

An employee NDA is a contract in which a worker agrees to keep the employer's confidential information private, typically covering trade secrets, client and pricing data, and internal processes. A severance NDA is the same core promise signed when the employee leaves, usually inside a separation and release agreement paid for with severance, and it commonly also keeps the terms of the departure confidential. Both are confidentiality agreements; the severance version is tied to an exit and a payment.

Question 2

How is an employee NDA different from a commercial NDA?

Accepted Answer

A commercial NDA sits between two businesses trading information as equals, so the law mostly lets them set their own terms. An employee NDA is between a company and a worker, and the law limits it: the worker cannot be required to stay silent about unlawful conduct or waive the right to report to a government agency. In Texas, one specific limit is that an NDA cannot conceal an act of sexual abuse. That worker-protective floor is what makes an employee or severance NDA a different instrument from a business-to-business one.

Question 3

What does Trey's Law do to a Texas NDA?

Accepted Answer

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 129C.002, known as Trey's Law and effective September 1, 2025, any provision of a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement is void and unenforceable to the extent it prohibits a person from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or facts related to an act of sexual abuse. It applies to both employment and settlement agreements. The rest of the NDA, including its trade-secret protection, still stands; only the part that would conceal sexual abuse is void.

Question 4

Does Texas void NDAs that cover workplace harassment or discrimination?

Accepted Answer

No, not in general. This is a key point of accuracy. Trey's Law is limited to concealment of sexual abuse. Texas has not enacted a broad Silenced No More law that voids NDAs covering workplace harassment or discrimination the way California or some other states have. An ordinary harassment or discrimination confidentiality term is not automatically void in Texas, although the federal Speak Out Act still bars silencing a sexual assault or sexual harassment dispute.

Question 5

What counts as sexual abuse under Trey's Law?

Accepted Answer

Trey's Law addresses acts of sexual abuse, which are criminal offenses such as sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, indecency with a child, trafficking, compelling prostitution, and sexual performance by a child, along with child sexual abuse. It does not reach ordinary workplace sexual harassment or discrimination unless that conduct rises to criminal sexual abuse. The point of the law is to keep survivors from being contractually silenced about abuse.

Question 6

Does Trey's Law apply to both employment and severance agreements?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Section 129C.002 reaches any provision of a nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement, which includes both employment agreements signed during the job and settlement or severance agreements signed at the end. In either setting, a confidentiality provision is void to the extent it would prohibit disclosing an act of sexual abuse. The restriction took effect September 1, 2025.

Question 7

Can a Texas employee NDA still protect trade secrets?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Trey's Law limits confidentiality over acts of sexual abuse, not the protection of legitimate business information. A Texas employee or severance NDA can still protect trade secrets, client and pricing data, and other genuine proprietary information, and it should include the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act immunity notice like any well-drafted NDA.

Question 8

Do I have to sign a severance NDA to get severance in Texas?

Accepted Answer

Severance is usually offered in exchange for signing a separation agreement that includes confidentiality and a release of claims, so declining can mean forgoing the payment. You are not required to sign, and you can negotiate the terms. An employee who is 40 or older is entitled by federal law to at least 21 days to consider the agreement and 7 days to revoke it after signing. Reviewing it with an attorney before you sign is an option DocDraft makes available.

Texas Employee and Severance NDA

Introduction

Key Things to Know

Key decisions before you file

Customize your Employee and Severance NDA Template with DocDraft

Texas Requirements for Employee and Severance NDA

Texas Trey's Law (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 129C.002)

Frequently Asked Questions