Women employees being silenced with gagging orders
- One-in-four mistreated requested by employers to signal ‘non-disclosure agreements’
- Eight in ten of those individuals are ladies
- Treasury Committee need ban on gagging orders in circumstances of sexual harassment
Hundreds of ladies who report sexual harassment or bullying at work are being silenced with gagging orders, the Mail can reveal.
More than one-in-four individuals who have been mistreated within the office are requested by their employers to signal ‘non-disclosure agreements’ (NDAs) which forestall them from talking out in public.
Eight in ten of those individuals are ladies – fuelling fears that sexism continues to run rife.
MPs on the Treasury Committee, which lately revealed damning analysis into Sexism within the City, are actually calling for a ban on gagging orders in circumstances of sexual harassment.
The parliamentary report discovered firms often used legally binding contracts to ‘cowl up’ abuse and to make issues ‘go away’.
Harassment: The Treasury Committee lately revealed damning analysis into Sexism within the City
Now figures seen by the Mail – compiled by nameless whistleblowing web site Speak Out Revolution – spotlight the usage of NDAs and the way they disproportionately affect ladies. The group has recorded 888 circumstances of harassment and bullying at work since 2020. Of these, 711 victims had been ladies, or 80 per cent.
And 27 per cent have mentioned they had been pressured to signal an NDA.
The respondents got here from a variety of industries together with legislation and enterprise.
Harriett Baldwin, chair of the Treasury committee, warned that these figures may simply be the tip of the iceberg.
‘The Treasury Committee found a pattern of corporations utilizing NDAs to handle victims of sexual harassment out of a enterprise whereas the perpetrator is protected,’ she advised the Mail.
‘Our investigation solely appeared on the monetary sector; these figures exhibiting the issue could also be extra widespread are extraordinarily worrying,’ she added.
Speak Out Revolution additionally discovered ladies between 18-24 and people over 55 usually tend to have signed an NDA, with 33 per cent of 18-24-year-olds, and 43 per cent of over 55-year-olds being silenced.
In December, minister for girls Kemi Badenoch confirmed that the Government was wanting into ‘a sublime resolution’ for stopping the misuse of NDAs extra extensively.
Frances Holmes, founding father of Speak Out Revolution, mentioned: ‘The authorities faces a alternative – proceed silencing harassed ladies or take motion to create safer workplaces.’
The findings additionally comply with a string of latest scandals together with accusations of intercourse harassment and assault levelled by ladies in opposition to fund supervisor Crispin Odey, in addition to claims of sexual misconduct allegations on the CBI.
The Treasury committee famous that while there had been some enchancment within the City, it warned progress continues to be too sluggish.
