>>102539411Lawyer here. The dance between NDAs and whistleblowing is absolutely fascinating. Many laws exist federally and in each State limiting the enforceability of NDAs as they apply to reporting illegal activity to the police as well as publishing statements about that illegal activity. Also, at what we call "common law," in general, NDAs that violate public public policy are unenforceable.
REGARDLESS, whistleblowers under NDA need to balance a variety risks if they want to violate NDAs. First, they have to be careful that their disclosures don't go beyond the illegal activity. If they disclose something outside of the scope of that illegal activity, enforceability and liability become murky. Second, even IF an NDA is unenforceable, whistleblowers run the risk of being tied up in lawsuits attempting to enforce the NDA. Even with a potential anti-SLAPP motion, the smart thing to do is often just to avoid running the risk of violating the NDA.
Ultimately what this boils down to is that even with whistleblower protection laws, NDAs still serve as a powerful deterrent to whistleblowing, allowing corporations to get away with evil. A good example of this is the Theranos case, if you want to look it up.
