![Former Trump campaign staffer files claim over nondisclosure agreement](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/09/Donald_Trump_27150816364.jpg)
Jessica Denson, who worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, brought a class action claim on Tuesday seeking to invalidate the nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements (NDAs) that all campaign staffers had to sign. Denson filed the claim with the American Arbitration Association.
In November 2017 Denson filed a sex discrimination and slander suit against the campaign in a New York state court. However, the campaign filed for arbitration because Denson had allegedly breached the NDA. Although Denson did not participate in the arbitration initiated by the campaign, the arbitrator said she must pay the campaign $49,507.64 for breaching the NDA.
The NDA prevented staffers from discussing “‘all information … that Mr. Trump insists remain private or confidential.” Staffers were also prohibited from saying anything damaging about Trump, the Trump family, or any of the family businesses.
The complaint alleges that the NDA violates public policy, lacks a legitimate purpose, is impermissibly vague, is unconscionable and is “void as a prior restraint against free speech by a governmental actor.”
The complaint states that the agreement “subjects any person who has ever signed it … to grievous financial penalty for the mere act of criticizing the sitting President of the United States.” Denson also claims that the NDA prevents her from exercising her rights as an employee.
Denson wishes the arbitrator to grant “declaratory relief that the NDAs are invalid and unenforceable, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated.”