Trump Class Action Says Nondisclosure Agreements Are Unconstitutional

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A former Trump campaign staffer has lodged a class action lawsuit alleging that the nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements that all staff members were required to sign violated their rights to pursue redress for workplace misconduct.

Plaintiff Jessica Denson says that each campaign staff member, volunteer, and even contractors were forced to sign the same agreement.

The Trump NDA forbade those who signed the agreement from disclosing anything private, confidential, or even disparaging about Trump, the campaign, his family, or his company.

If Trump determines that anyone who has signed the NDA has violated the agreement, they can become subject to binding arbitration conducted in secret, the class action lawsuit states.

Denson, who worked on the 2016 campaign, alleges that the Trump NDA effectively prohibits her and others from reporting things like discrimination, harassment, or employment law violations.

Further, Denson says the agreement also hinders the ability of staffers to disclose fraud, violations of campaign laws, or corruption to appropriate authorities.

The Trump NDA class action states that those who violate the NDA can be subject to closed-door arbitration proceeding resulting in steep fines.

In fact, the plaintiff claims several former campaign staffers have come into the limelight after supposedly violating the Trump NDA through publishing or otherwise airing grievances about Trump or his campaign.

Denson says she was hit with a $50,000 penalty in binding arbitration after filing a complaint about workplace discrimination and harassment she experienced while working on the campaign in 2016.

The Trump NDA, alleges the class action lawsuit, “violates federal, state and local public policy by allowing any Trump Person to impose grievous financial penalties on individuals in retaliation for such individuals’ assertion of their statutory rights as employees.”

The Trump NDA class action lawsuit contends that the agreement is far too broad. It gives Trump too much authority to determine what is “private” and “confidential.”

Further, Denson says the agreement has no geographic limit, nor is there a time limit to the agreement.

“It is unenforceable as it is impermissibly vague, allowing Trump Persons to bring secret arbitrations over any negative statement about a Trump Person or disclosure of any ‘information … that Mr. Trump insists remain private or confidential,’” alleges the Trump class action lawsuit.

According to the plaintiff, the Trump NDA allows the now President to limit the freedom of speech of American citizens who happened to work, volunteer, or contract with the 2016 campaign.

“Any person who has ever signed the Form NDA, whether or not he or she has entered into government service, subjects himself or herself to grievous financial penalty for the mere act of engaging in constitutionally protected criticism of the sitting President of the United States,” alleges the class action lawsuit.

The Trump NDA class action lawsuit contends that the agreement itself violates a number of federal and New York State laws. Further, the plaintiff argues that the Trump Campaign is prohibited from retaliating against those asserting their statutory rights under the Civil Rights Act, as well as New York’s Human Rights Law.

The plaintiff seeks to represent others who were forced to sign the Trump NDA and hopes to get the agreements thrown out.

Denson is represented by David K. Bowles of The Law Office of David K. Bowles PLLC and Maury B. Josephson of The Law Office of Maury B. Josephson PC.

The Trump NDA Class Action Lawsuit is Denson v. Donald J. Trump for President Inc., Case No. unknown before the American Arbitration Association.