STORY 48

My employer knew that my grievances relating to student safety, negligence, staff misconduct and discrimination would impact on their reputation. Exhausted, and suffering from [what became] PTSD, I signed an NDA in order to move on with my life and try to recover.

To recover one needs closure. NDAs might appear to offer that, but sadly they do not. They do not quell the nightmares, or the sense that injustice has been allowed to happen, and careers ruined. The injustice that people with integrity do not make it into leadership, so that they might change this culture once and for all.

My employer has recently signed the pledge. Senior leaders have moved on to other senior roles [let that be a warning to other HEIs], or ‘retired’ – the truth will never be allowed to come out. When I rebuild my life, and this campaign gains traction, maybe I will tell my story. Until then I live with my PTSD, with the added anxiety that I must not speak of the traumas I experienced – all of which were avoidable if someone would have just listened and acted.

Justice is not a ‘from now on we will…’. This is not good enough. It is not good enough to suddenly recognize what staff have been saying for years, to the point that they leave their jobs tired of trying to enact meaningful change. HR offer ‘support’ which mirrors the performance management policies, individualizing and gaslighting already vulnerable staff. You are signed off, and the distance between you and your colleagues only grows. Alone now, you question whether this is all worth it – your family suffers, the NDA becomes more attractive, you swallow your sense of natural justice, and for a few months feel free. You are only really free from the procedure though, the injustice repeats.