STORY 17

I signed an NDA a few years ago after more than a year’s bullying by two managers at a university. I worked as an acting manager of a department for no extra pay and, when I resisted a departmental re-structuring on the grounds that it would lead to unfair redundancies, I was targeted by the senior manager who then recruited a new departmental manager in my place. I was not shortlisted for the management post despite having been acting manager for the previous year and deputy manager before that. I was excluded from meetings and told I could not return to my former role but would have to accept a different full-time role for lower pay and with increased responsibility. I was targeted by the new departmental manager with daily meetings and emails pressurising me to accept the new role. He openly said the senior manager was pushing for me to accept the role. I was told I would not get flexible working despite having a young child. My job title was changed without consultation and there was no re-negotiation of my contract. I eventually went off sick with stress for several months.

I accepted an NDA when the university said they could not see how I could reasonably return to work despite an occupational health report identifying my manager as the source of my stress.

Six months after I accepted the NDA, both managers were removed from their posts. There had been numerous previous accusations of bullying against the senior manager prior to my own difficulties and there was a high turnover of female staff under her management.

My NDA allowed the university to deny any complicity in the bullying and any prior knowledge that the senior manager was problematic. They avoided paying me appropriate compensation as they avoided any liability. I have never acknowledged the veracity of the NDA and, while I do not talk about it on social media, I have told other people about the circumstances that led to me leaving my job.

The process of negotiating the NDA was very one sided and stressful. I was given a short timescale to comply and told the university would not negotiate the offer.

I felt so stressed by going in to work that I was desperate to leave the situation and accepted the NDA as the quickest way out. The decision had serious financial implications for me and my family and, more than 5 years later, I am still not on a commensurate pay scale. I feel very bitter that the university showed little or no care for me as an employee and were aware that the senior manager was a bully but would not acknowledge it.