Bill 5: Non-disclosure Agreements Act

Any business in New Brunswick that has ever settled a workplace harassment, discrimination, or sexual violence complaint using an NDA — or that might do so in the future — is directly affected. This includes employers of all sizes across every industry, from small family-run shops to larger organizations with HR departments, as well as partnerships and organizations with volunteers. Day-to-day, this means that if you're dealing with a complaint from a worker, student, apprentice, or even a volunteer, and you want to resolve it confidentially, you now have strict paperwork rules to follow: the NDA must be in plain language, include an expiry date, have a copy of this Act attached, and give the other person at least 30 days to review it and get their own lawyer. You also can't use penalty clauses or clawback provisions to punish someone for talking, and if an internal investigation already found the allegation was valid, you can't use an NDA to silence the person at all.