Key Takeaways
- Wealthy employers are increasingly turning to nondisclosure agreements (NDAs).
- The purpose is to keep household staff who maintain their homes and run their lives from talking publicly about life behind closed doors.
- Demand for NDAs has increased tremendously over the past decade, especially in the past five years.
If you’re working for the rich, keeping house now means keeping secrets.
According to a recent report from The New York Times, nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), which were once associated mainly with business deals, are increasingly becoming a condition of working in wealthy households. Employers are requiring staff like butlers, tutors and private chefs to sign agreements to ensure that what happens in their homes stays private.
Demand for NDAs has increased tremendously over the past decade, especially the past five years. Joseph Maya, managing partner and co-founder of the law firm Maya Murphy, has been in the legal field for three decades. He said in an interview with the Times that the number of inquiries he receives about NDAs has “easily increased a hundredfold” over the past five years.
Maya, an employment law expert, said the reason NDAs are on the rise is that more people have money and are purchasing lavish homes that require upkeep.
“They have more valuables, bigger art collections, more jewelry and cars, and they are concerned about their information being known,” Maya said. “Thirty years ago, you didn’t have to worry about something being posted on TikTok, posted on Instagram, posted on X two seconds after somebody sees something.”
One worker’s experience
One landscape designer had experience working with wealthy clients. Still, she was taken aback when a potential job with a household-name celebrity came with an important condition: secrecy.
The proposed contract would cover her, her employees, her subcontractors and her crew members, she told the Times. Even the people supplying the plants would fall within its reach.
The restrictions went beyond what anyone might say about the client. “There was even a clause prohibiting anyone from coming on site with Google glasses,” the designer, who withheld her name to protect her business relationships, told the Times.
The purpose of NDAs has evolved over time
Household NDAs once focused on preventing gossip. Now they can impose far broader restrictions.
Dara Yates, founder of California-based Seaside Staffing, which places nannies with wealthy families, said in an interview with the Times that agreements that once fit into a single paragraph can now stretch to 15 pages. She has worked in the industry for 43 years.
Meanwhile, Luke Yates, an integrations engineer at Seaside Staffing, told the Times that wealthy employers are increasingly anxious about employee access to financial records, security and medical information.
“It isn’t just a matter of not wanting your house manager to tell stories about your home life at dinner parties,” he said. “It’s keeping people from knowing your whereabouts and your assets.”
Elizabeth Pipkin, an attorney at Silicon Valley law firm McManis Faulkner, told the Times that NDAs help wealthy clients defend themselves against extortion and efforts to damage their reputations.
She added that running several homes can resemble managing a business, making confidentiality agreements part of the operation.
“People have these large household staffs in multiple locations and, with that, comes all the things you’d expect any corporate entity to have, including confidentiality agreements,” she said.
Key Takeaways
- Wealthy employers are increasingly turning to nondisclosure agreements (NDAs).
- The purpose is to keep household staff who maintain their homes and run their lives from talking publicly about life behind closed doors.
- Demand for NDAs has increased tremendously over the past decade, especially in the past five years.
If you’re working for the rich, keeping house now means keeping secrets.
According to a recent report from The New York Times, nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), which were once associated mainly with business deals, are increasingly becoming a condition of working in wealthy households. Employers are requiring staff like butlers, tutors and private chefs to sign agreements to ensure that what happens in their homes stays private.
Demand for NDAs has increased tremendously over the past decade, especially the past five years. Joseph Maya, managing partner and co-founder of the law firm Maya Murphy, has been in the legal field for three decades. He said in an interview with the Times that the number of inquiries he receives about NDAs has “easily increased a hundredfold” over the past five years.