I think one key point that is missing is this: regardless of whether the NDA and the subsequent gag order is legitimate or not; William would still have to spend thousands of dollars on a court case to rescue his rights. This sort of strong-arm litigation has become very common in the modern era. It’s also just… very stressful. If you’ve just resigned from a company you probably used to love, you likely don’t want to fish all of your old friends, bosses and colleagues into a court case.
Edit: also, if William left for reasons involving AGI safety—maybe entering into (what would likely be a very public) court case would be counteractive to their reason for leaving? You probably don’t want to alarm the public by flavouring existential threats in legal jargon. American judges have the annoying tendency to valorise themselves as celebrities when confronting AI (see Musk v Open AI).
Are you familiar with USA NDA’s? I’m sure there are lots of clauses that have been ruled invalid by case law? In many cases, non-lawyers have no ideas about these, so you might be able to make a difference with very little effort. There is also the possibility that valuable OpenAI shares could be rescued?
If you haven’t seen it, check out this thread where one of the OpenAI leavers did not sigh the gag order.
(1) Invalidity of the NDA does not guarantee William will be compensated after the trial. Even if he is, his job prospects may be hurt long-term.
(2) State’s have different laws on whether the NLRA trumps internal company memorandums. More importantly, labour disputes are traditionally solved through internal bargaining. Presumably, the collective bargaining ‘hand-off’ involving NDA’s and gag-orders at this level will waive subsequent litigation in district courts. The precedent Habryka offered refers to hostile severance agreements only, not the waiving of the dispute mechanism itself.
I honestly wish I could use this dialogue as a discrete communication to William on a way out, assuming he needs help, but I re-affirm my previous worries on the costs.
I also add here, rather cautiously, that there are solutions. However, it would depend on whether William was an independent contractor, how long he worked there, whether it actually involved a trade secret (as others have mentioned) and so on. The whole reason NDA’s tend to be so effective is because they obfuscate the material needed to even know or be aware of what remedies are available.
I am a lawyer.
I think one key point that is missing is this: regardless of whether the NDA and the subsequent gag order is legitimate or not; William would still have to spend thousands of dollars on a court case to rescue his rights. This sort of strong-arm litigation has become very common in the modern era. It’s also just… very stressful. If you’ve just resigned from a company you probably used to love, you likely don’t want to fish all of your old friends, bosses and colleagues into a court case.
Edit: also, if William left for reasons involving AGI safety—maybe entering into (what would likely be a very public) court case would be counteractive to their reason for leaving? You probably don’t want to alarm the public by flavouring existential threats in legal jargon. American judges have the annoying tendency to valorise themselves as celebrities when confronting AI (see Musk v Open AI).
Are you familiar with USA NDA’s? I’m sure there are lots of clauses that have been ruled invalid by case law? In many cases, non-lawyers have no ideas about these, so you might be able to make a difference with very little effort. There is also the possibility that valuable OpenAI shares could be rescued?
If you haven’t seen it, check out this thread where one of the OpenAI leavers did not sigh the gag order.
I have reviewed his post. Two (2) things to note:
(1) Invalidity of the NDA does not guarantee William will be compensated after the trial. Even if he is, his job prospects may be hurt long-term.
(2) State’s have different laws on whether the NLRA trumps internal company memorandums. More importantly, labour disputes are traditionally solved through internal bargaining. Presumably, the collective bargaining ‘hand-off’ involving NDA’s and gag-orders at this level will waive subsequent litigation in district courts. The precedent Habryka offered refers to hostile severance agreements only, not the waiving of the dispute mechanism itself.
I honestly wish I could use this dialogue as a discrete communication to William on a way out, assuming he needs help, but I re-affirm my previous worries on the costs.
I also add here, rather cautiously, that there are solutions. However, it would depend on whether William was an independent contractor, how long he worked there, whether it actually involved a trade secret (as others have mentioned) and so on. The whole reason NDA’s tend to be so effective is because they obfuscate the material needed to even know or be aware of what remedies are available.
Interesting! For most of us, this is outside our area of competence, so appreciate your input.
I can see some arguments in your direction but would tentatively guess the opposite.