By Pat Davis — A surprise mandate issued this week for all employees to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements in order to work for the Town of Edgewood should now be considered more of a “first draft” for a future requirement, town leaders told the Independent, after city workers balked at signing them.
Several town employees contacted the Route 66 Independent to express concern and confusion about the NDAs. The agreements, issued under the name of new Town Manager Kelly Hamilton, explicitly prohibit employees from sharing “confidential information” which includes such things as law enforcement investigatory information, financial records of the town, legal matters and “any other information that the Town designates as confidential or that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential given the nature of the information or circumstances of disclosure.” The NDA includes provisions for termination if they violate the agreement and requirements to keep confidential information protected after employment.
“Precisely because someone leaked it to you is why we need a Non-Disclosure Agreement,” Hamilton told The Independent on Friday. Melissa Johnson, the town’s new human resources director, said the agreements issued to all employees “from the town manager to the janitor” after a review of personnel files found that not all employees had been onboarded with the same requirements when hired.
In New Mexico, state law allows governments to withhold confidential information not required to be disclosed under public records laws. The NDA restrictions reviewed by The Independent mirror those state-allowed exemptions and still require employees to comply with public records requests, but Johnson said employees were confused by some of the language and concerned that exemptions for whistleblower protections were not included.
After hearing from employees, Johnson said they are not requiring employees to sign the current version, though some have she said, and would instead prepare a revised version based on employee feedback.
Nonetheless, the agreements will be mandatory soon. He and Johnson have called a meeting for employees on Monday at 11:30 a.m. to discuss the new NDAs.