Ban on NDAs is a victory for ‘people power’ says MP
An MP who has championed the Parliamentary campaign to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of workplace sexual misconduct or discrimination has welcomed a government commitment to change the law as a victory for ‘people power.’
Lee Barron, the Member of Parliament for Corby and East Northamptonshire, is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modernising Employment.
His committee recently welcomed Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul and now convicted sex offender, who broke her agreement to accuse him of abuse, to share her story with MPs and Peers.
“This Government announcement, that the Employment Rights Bill will void any confidentiality agreements seeking to prevent workers from speaking about allegations of harassment or discrimination, is a real success for people power.” Lee Barron MP said.
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.
“Zelda has done amazing work leading the ‘Can’t Buy My Silence’ campaign.” Lee Barron MPcontinued.“Non-disclosure agreements are contracts that were created to protect trade secrets but when used wrongly become secret settlement contracts used to buy the silence of a victim or whistleblower.”
“They have become the default solution for organisations, corporations and public bodies to settle cases of sexual misconduct, racism, pregnancy discrimination and other human rights violations and this is simply not acceptable.”
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".
Zelda Perkins 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".
"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".