On Wall Street, moneymaking companies have long relied on confidentiality agreements to prevent employees from divulging their secrets. But now, the nation’s labor board has challenged some provisions in the contracts that Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund firm, requires each full-time employee to sign, the New York Times reported today. The unusual action is calling into question longstanding practices and prompting some companies to re-examine their employment agreements. Prompted by a sexual harassment complaint by a former Bridgewater employee, the National Labor Relations Board filed a pending administrative action against the firm this summer saying that Bridgewater “has been interfering with, restraining and coercing” employees from exercising their rights. The former Bridgewater employee, Christopher Tarui, claimed that he was the victim of sexual harassment by a male supervisor and that the hedge fund had retaliated against him when he complained.
