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Read. Follow. Verify.New Mexico bill bans workplace nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreements for harassment claims
Last action · January 22, 2026: Not PrintedSponsors: Day Hochman-Vigil and 1 other
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What This Bill Proposed
House Bill 126 prohibits private employers in New Mexico from requiring prospective, current, or former employees or independent contractors to sign nondisclosure or s related to workplace sexual harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. The measure also voids unenforceable confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements, with specific narrow exceptions for monetary amounts and employee-requested privacy.
Changes legal obligations for private employers and workers across New Mexico by invalidating blanket secrecy clauses in harassment and discrimination settlements, while allowing confidentiality only for settlement amounts or upon the worker's request to protect their identity.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
prospective, current or former employee
Workers gain the right to disclose claims of workplace sexual harassment, discrimination, or retaliation without being bound by mandatory nondisclosure or nondisparagement agreements.
independent contractor
Independent contractors are protected from mandatory nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions regarding workplace harassment and discrimination claims.
private employer
Private employers are barred from requiring nondisclosure or nondisparagement provisions in employment-related harassment or discrimination settlements, except for permitted monetary and identity confidentiality clauses.
Key Facts
- Private employers are prohibited from requiring prospective, current, or former employees or independent contractors to sign nondisclosure or nondisparagement provisions regarding workplace sexual harassment, discrimination, or retaliation claims.
- Employers cannot prevent an employee from disclosing a claim of sexual harassment, discrimination, or retaliation occurring in the workplace, at a work-related event, or between employees on or off premises.
- Confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements are restricted and permitted only to pertain to the monetary amount of a settlement or, at the worker's request, facts that could lead to the identification of the employee or independent contractor.
- Confidentiality provisions violating these rules are deemed void and unenforceable as a matter of law.
Show all 5 facts
- The restrictions do not prevent the disclosure of information required in a judicial, administrative, or governmental proceeding pursuant to a valid subpoena or applicable order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an employee still keep the dollar amount of a harassment settlement confidential under this bill?
Are independent contractors covered by this prohibition?
Can an employee request to keep facts identifying them confidential?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · introduced in the House.
Procedural history
1 action- Jan 22, 2026New Mexico LegislatureNot Printed
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Workplace Harassment Disclosure Rights
The bill amends prior 2020 legislation to strengthen employee rights by completely barring employers from requiring nondisclosure or nondisparagement provisions for harassment, discrimination, or retaliation claims.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.nmlegis.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy65Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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