The Pledge
Can’t Buy My Silence understand that NDAs have a legitimate place in business to protect trade secrets and commercially sensitive information and we are not working to completely eradicate any NDA use. However, we also know that NDAs are regularly misused to conceal complaints of misconduct and have become a core part of the system that allows harassment, abuse, discrimination and bullying to go unchecked. NDAs that are misused in this way silence victims and protect sexual predators, bullies, racists and abusers in the workplace, enabling the behaviour to continue and toxic work environments to flourish.
This situation has created a pressure cooker which is now erupting, as is repeatedly being reported in the press, with public reputation fallout for a growing number of individuals and organisations where misconduct issues have not been dealt with correctly and instead hidden behind NDAs.
Governments and organisations around the world are rapidly taking steps to abolish the misuse of NDAs. In the USA President Biden signed into law the Speak Out Act which prohibits the use of pre dispute NDAs and non disparagement agreements in cases of sexual misconduct. In Ireland the Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2021, which prohibits the use of NDAs in instances of abuse and harassment in the workplace, completed its final stage in the Seanad with government and cross party support. By committing to the Pledge, you will bring your business in line with the legal reform that is already underway across the world. It will make you a leader in the UK, signalling to your shareholders and employees that you take workplace ethics seriously.
“We commit to not using non-disclosure agreements or clauses (NDAs) to stop anyone in our organisation from raising complaints or discussing incidents of sexual harassment, abuse or misconduct, discrimination, retaliation, bullying or other harassment, either at the point of hiring, termination or any other stage. This pledge does not affect the reasonable use of NDAs to protect unrelated commercially sensitive information, financial details, client confi dentiality and intellectual property.”
Ending the misuse of NDAs is good for businesses, shareholders and employees:
Shareholders are often not aware funds are being used for settlements including NDAs. If this is discovered the stability of organisation is threatened.
NDAs prevent Boards from having a full understanding of what is going on in their business and rooting out poor culture.
Using NDAs to protect a person who has behaved abusively and possibly criminally allows them to stay put or move with impunity to another department or organisation.
Research shows that NDAs chill the climate for anyone wishing to speak up about abuse in the workplace - meaning the behaviour can continue and escalate unchecked.
Businesses that misuse NDAs as a standard form of settling disputes foster an environment of secrecy and distrust which impacts the entire organisation.