The Nevada legislature recently passed AB 248 which places new limits on confidentiality provision found in certain settlement agreements. Effective July 1, 2019, a settlement agreement must not contain a provision that prohibits or otherwise restricts a party from disclosing factual information relating to a claim in a civil or administrative action if the claim relates to: (i) conduct that if criminal liability were imposed would constitute a sexual offense pursuant to NRS 179D.097 and would be punishable as a felony, regardless of whether there was a criminal investigation, prosecution or conviction of such conduct; (ii) discrimination on the basis of sex by an employer or a landlord; or (iii) retaliation by an employer or a landlord against the claimant for his or her reporting of discrimination on the basis of sex.
With respect to (i) above, NRS 179D.097 lists 22 separate sexual offenses that are punished as felonies, including sexual assault, open or gross lewdness, indecent or gross lewdness, sexual conduct between certain employees of a school or volunteers at a school and a pupil, sexual conduct between certain employees of a college or university and a student, and any other offense that has an element involving a sexual act or sexual conduct with another.
If a settlement agreement entered into on or after July 1, 2019 contains a provision that violates AB 248, that provision will be considered void and unenforceable, and Courts are prohibited from entering orders which restrict a party to a lawsuit from disclosing factual information of this nature. Finally, unless the agreement is entered into with a government agency or a public officer, the claimant may request that the settlement agreement include a provision that prohibits the disclosure of the claimant’s identity and any facts relating to the action that could lead to the disclosure of the claimant’s identity.
If you are a Nevada employer who has questions regarding AB 248 and drafting an enforceable settlement agreement, feel free to contact Jordan Wolff at Saltzman Mugan Dushoff, PLLC to discuss. This blog post does not constitute legal advice, and reading or interacting with this website does not create an attorney-client relationship.