STORY 72

I signed an NDA in my settlement in 2001. I had been health and social policy researcher/adviser in regional government. A newly appointed chief of staff (for whom I had not worked and had never met him before that time) dismissed me after conducting a so-called review of staff in which he met with most staff members but not with me.

I subsequently made a complaint under regional Equal Opportunity law to the regional Civil and Administrative Tribunal, alleging that the chief of staff had discriminated against me in that he met with male colleagues on the same level as me but not with me. I also later alleged indirect discrimination and sexual harassment. The claim of sexual harassment was not originally made as my lawyer said it was two-edged and could cause difficulties. However we included in the original claim that there was a “blokey atmosphere” in the workplace in which jokes by men about women and sex were common, for example.

A judge later ruled that this constituted a claim of sexual harassment and either had to be made as such or omitted, so I made a separate sexual harassment claim with more details. The case was eventually settled just before hearing in 2001. It was effectively settled as a wrongful dismissal. The settlement contained a non-disclosure clause, but it was not very clearly worded and arguably only prevents me from showing anyone the actual document. Some of the terms were leaked at the time (I don’t know by whom or why). 

The worst aspect of the secrecy is that the apology that was made to me was private - it should have been public. In my later work I have come into contact with one of the perpetrators and it has been a source of awkwardness to me and affected my career in that there has never been a public apology by him, and I’ve felt very constrained in my relationship with him. He is not in a direct relationship of authority with me but is very influential in the sphere in which I work.

If he had publicly apologized and wished me the best at the time, as he should have, it would have cleared the air and saved me a lot of awkwardness and some curtailment of my opportunities as a consequence.

The NDA has been a hindrance and a weight in my professional career. NDAs should be banned. I’m very much opposed to NDAs for all the reasons you list. My case could easily have been settled with an agreed statement of facts and public apology. I can see that agreeing not to make further damaging statements or claims outside the agreed statement of facts could be relevant but even that would have to be carefully worded so as not to prevent legitimate follow up.