Non-disclosure agreements gagging workers to be banned

Employers will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of workplace sexual misconduct or discrimination, the government has said.

An amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, which is expected to become law later this year, will void any confidentiality agreements seeking to prevent workers from speaking about allegations of harassment or discrimination.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said it was “time we stamped this practice out”.

The use of NDAs to cover up criminality has been in the headlines ever since Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul and now convicted sex offender, broke her agreement to accuse him of abuse.

More recently, the now deceased Mohamed Al Fayed, who used to own Harrods, was accused of deploying confidentiality clauses to silence women who accused him of rape and abuse.

An NDA is a legally binding document that protects confidential information between two parties. They can be used to protect intellectual property or other commercially sensitive information but over the years their uses have spread.

Ms Perkins began campaigning for a change in the law more than seven years ago when she spoke out against Weinstein.

She now runs the campaign group Can’t Buy My Silence UK and said the amendment marked a ”huge milestone” and that it showed the government had ”listened and understood the abuse of power taking place”.

Though she told the BBC’s Today Programme: “Let’s see what comes out in the actual details”.

She said “the real horror” of NDAs was that “the law protected the powerful person in the room, not the victims of a sexual crime”.

Ms Perkins said many of these agreements designed to silence victims would be unenforceable in court but they work because many victims do not know that.

“Because of the nature of an NDA, no-one gets to see it. So they can say anything to make the victim afraid to speak,” she said.

The change in the law would bring the UK in line with Ireland, the US, and some provinces in Canada, which have banned such agreements from being used to prevent the disclosure of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Employment rights minister Justin Madders said there was “misuse of NDAs to silence victims”, which he called “an appalling practice”.

“These amendments will give millions of workers confidence that inappropriate behaviour in the workplace will be dealt with, not hidden, allowing them to get on with building a prosperous and successful career,” he added.

Peers will debate the amendments when the Employment Rights Bill returns to the House of Lords on 14 July and, if passed, will need to be approved by MPs as well.