Reform of gagging orders and NDAs is being sped up after Sir Philip Green scandal and will allow victims to expose ‘abusive employers’
Theresa May has promised to crackdown on the use of NDAs to silence complaints of sexual harassment
A MAJOR reform of gagging orders is being sped up in the light of the Sir Philip Green scandal and will explicitly allow people who sign them to blow the whistle on abusive employers, The Sun has learnt.
Government sources said new rules will be unveiled before Christmas that will be "explicit when a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) does not apply or can't be enforced".
Theresa May had already promised to crackdown on the use of NDAs to silence complaints of sexual harassment but she has ordered ministers to accelerate plans to tighten current regulations after the bombshell revelations over Sir Philip's use of them to silence ex-staffers.
At the weekend it was claimed he had paid staff members seven-figure sums to silence allegations of sexual harassment and bullying.
The Government Equalities Office is conducting a consultation on how to overhaul current rules governing gagging orders.
But insiders say that one of the decisions already made is the new rules will bar all future NDAs from banning whistle-blowing.
One Whitehall insider working on the plans said: "The starting point is that NDAs shouldn't be allowed to stop people from whistle-blowing and some employers are using them unethically so the consultation will look at improving the regulations around them."
Maria Miller, chairman of the Commons Equalities committee, said the furore over the process of naming Sir Philip in Parliament must not overshadow the urgent need to reform the use of NDAs.
She told Pienaar’s Politics on Radio 5 Live: “What I'm more interested in is that it doesn't eclipse the importance of really getting change in a non-disclosure system, which is you know covering up serious allegations - and more importantly than that, is the legal system appears to be allowing people to do this.”
It emerged that Labour staffers have been forced to sign controversial non-disclosure contracts that ban them from speaking out about members’ actions – even though Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to ban them.
Dozens of former party staffers have been forced to sign agreements to stop them going public on the complaints against Labour party members, which include harassment, bullying and anti-Semitism, The Sunday Times reported.
The Sun Says
THE proposed reform of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) is welcome.
These contracts serve a purpose in some fields, such as business, where confidentiality is often necessary.
But after the “Sir” Philip Green scandal last week, it is clear to all that they are being grossly misused.
NDAs were not created so that the rich and powerful could gag people who make serious accusations against them.
In a free society, people must always be able to blow the whistle.
Sources told the paper that the party boss was guilty of “hypocrisy” for campaigning to ban such NDAs clauses.
One said: “A decent number of now former Labour staff are also subject to NDAs, which is stopping them speaking out on sexual harassment cases or anti-Semitism.”
Back in June Mr Corbyn said that anything which prevented the disclosure of information about discrimination, harassment or victimisation would be outlawed under a future Labour government.
“Labour will bring about a workplace rights revolution, so people are free to do their jobs, in the hospitality sector and beyond, without facing unacceptable behaviour and abuses of power from colleagues, clients or customers,” he said at the time.
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Labour’s John Mann said: “On Friday my closing remarks at the national child abuse enquiry recommended an immediate removal of all NDAs by local councils.
“The same goes immediately for the Labour Party in all these cases.”
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