Non-disclosure agreements are commonplace in sexual harassment cases, but they’re being misused to silence people

Thu, 4 Apr 2024 12:33:16 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/non-disclosure-agreements-are-commonplace-in-sexual-harassment-cases-but-theyre-being-misused-to-silence-people-221592>

"Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) came into public consciousness during the
#MeToo movement after multiple women spoke out with sexual harassment
allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Weinstein systematically used NDAs to silence victim-survivors. It’s a major
reason it took years for his behaviour to be made public. Because of the
secrecy involved, it’s also how he was able to continue perpetrating harm
against so many women.

We’ve been researching how NDAs are used in out-of-court sexual harassment
settlements here in Australia. We’ve found NDAs remain the default resolution
practice for most lawyers, despite guidelines advising against it.

Given one in three Australian workers have been sexually harassed in the past
five years and that many incidents are not reported, the pervasive use of
confidentiality agreements means we know very little about what is happening in
our workplaces and the cultural drivers of sexual harassment. It also means
victim-survivors may agree to terms that prevent their psychological healing
because they are bound to confidentiality."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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