Labour considering ban on use of NDAs

PoliticsNerd

Barleyfields

I have never heard of an NDA being used at the end of a contract. Stable doors and bolting horses come to mind.

Perhaps me using the word "contract" is misleading Barleyfields. I'm thinking of those that are part of the termination of employment. I think those are the first to question.

An NDA would be required at the time of employment, not at the end of it. You either sign it in order to get the job or you don’t get the job. It’s a standard and entirely reasonable requirement for being employed in many areas, depending of course on its wording. It should only seek to prevent disclosure of sensitive commercial information and confidential information.

A friend of mine worked at a Solicitors office. They got rid of several members of staff by accusing them of gross misconduct which was completely untrue. The firm was having financial problems. My friend did not know this until she received a letter accusing her of the same.

Just a couple of weeks before she had had her staff appraisal and it was good. Nothing untoward. She was very shocked, confused and upset when she got the letter. She walked out of work at lunchtime in shock and did not go back. In the evening she spoke to a few former colleagues and read between the lines that others had suffered the same fate.

She knew she could not afford to fight them legally and, as solicitors, she would never beat them. She had a letter from them saying they were prepared to pay her a month or two’s salary and give her a basic reference if she agreed to not discuss this with anybody or take it any further and she had to sign to that effect. I believe this was an NDA. They were getting rid of people rather than pay redundancy money. A dirty trick!

I don’t think people sign NDAs in the public sector PoliticsNerd. Others will confirm, but everywhere I ever worked there was a specific confidentiality clause to protect patients and reputation, and a whistleblowing provision.

I don’t think that was an NDA Primrose. It was an agreed settlement. It’s not unusual for an agreed settlement to contain a provision that the terms will remain confidential.

Casdon

I don’t think people sign NDAs in the public sector PoliticsNerd. Others will confirm, but everywhere I ever worked there was a specific confidentiality clause to protect patients and reputation, and a whistleblowing provision.

Unfortunately NDAs are used in the public sector. I know of workplace bullying that has taken place, and the employee/employees being forced to sign an NDA to bring about a settlement, after the bullying was dismissed by the employer. The only way forward would be for that/those employees to go to tribunal, but many are reluctant to do so because of ongoing stress. They just agree to leave, are given a small severance package, and are never to speak of the bullying which has taken place.
I know this has happened.

maddyone

Casdon

I don’t think people sign NDAs in the public sector PoliticsNerd. Others will confirm, but everywhere I ever worked there was a specific confidentiality clause to protect patients and reputation, and a whistleblowing provision.

Unfortunately NDAs are used in the public sector. I know of workplace bullying that has taken place, and the employee/employees being forced to sign an NDA to bring about a settlement, after the bullying was dismissed by the employer. The only way forward would be for that/those employees to go to tribunal, but many are reluctant to do so because of ongoing stress. They just agree to leave, are given a small severance package, and are never to speak of the bullying which has taken place.
I know this has happened.

This sounds exactly like the scenario I described above Maddyone.

Barleyfields. I am almost certain it was called an NDA.

It is shocking that this can happen to employees they just want to get rid of quickly. What chance have you got to clear your name with a firm of solicitors?

Another firm of solicitors would have been delighted to act for your friend Primrose, and she may well have ended up with more compensation than her employers were offering.

This misuse of NDAs is, I think, what the government seek to challenge.

They are certainly used by Councils and as maddyone describes, to protect companies who go down the dismissal road when they actually need to make redundancies, are facing a complaint or to deal with potential whistle-blowing.

This is why I think a simple census of when they are used would be a good starting point.

Barleyfields

Another firm of solicitors would have been delighted to act for your friend Primrose, and she may well have ended up with more compensation than her employers were offering.

She may, but I understand (not sure about the facts) the initial ceiling is usually the equivalent to redundancy as this is all a tribunal can award.

To take it further would mean a court case and, in the worst circumstances, people are so demoralised by bullying, etc., that they may not be fit to fight such a battle.

www.howespercival.com/articles/6-april-2024-new-employment-tribunal-compensation-limits/

It seems that Primrose’s friend was unfairly dismissed and only given a small severance package.

Good idea.

There is a huge difference between signing an NDA at the start of employment, as I did joining the Navy with the Official Secrets Act and being forced to sign one when one is being sacked or forced to resign.

I do understand that some jobs require confidential and business secrets to he kept and not shared with competitors and that is perfectly acceptable, but not being allowed to complain about poor practices, harassment and sheer bad management is completely unacceptable. They have been widely used in both Further and Higher Education to ‘shut up’ whistleblowers who have been paid tiny compensation (or none) for the most obnoxious of work place poor practices

Some TV shows wouldn't be as good without a NDA. Plus the rich and famous deserve some privacy and discretion from their employees

I know someone whose son was training for a job in Local Authority. His mentor took a dislike to him and advised him to look for a different career, found fault with everything he did, and told him they had failed the last trainee. This broke confidentiality. He ended up consulting his union and almost had a breakdown. Was unable to work for four months due to stress. The mentor was disciplined for bullying, and discussing other trainees. He got 5k compensation but had to sign a NDA to get it. He moved to a different Local Authority and is now very successful and progressing insisted career. My friend wonders if the first mentor didn't want him as he's gay but there was no proof. He discussed everything with his family before a NDA was made a condition of compensation so it wasn't much use anyway.

In his career not insisted.

MaggsMcG

Some TV shows wouldn't be as good without a NDA. Plus the rich and famous deserve some privacy and discretion from their employees

Of course, but yet again there is the distinction of these agreement being entered into at the beginning of a contact.