NDAs used against victims of workplace harassment: advocate

The Attorney-General has been asked to consider reforming legislation following years of workplaces misusing NDAs.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington

Victims of workplace sexual harassment are suffering in silence due to organisations misusing blanket non-disclosure agreements to resolve settlements, with one advocacy group now calling on the Queensland government for an urgent inquiry.

Working Women Queensland has called on Attorney-General Deb Frecklington to consider reforming legislation following years of workplaces misusing NDAs, with three quarters of Australian legal professionals reporting never having resolved a sexual harassment complaint without the use of one.

Director Eloise Dalton said these NDAs were being used to minimise damaging reputations of perpetrators and organisations, leaving victims feeling trapped into signing an agreement that prevents them from ever speaking out on their experiences.

“I think it would be no surprise to many people that sexual harassment is still very, very prevalent in our workplaces, and there’s a lot going on to try and change that and to address the issues, and we think that the changes to NDAs go hand-in-hand with that,” she said.

Ms Dalton said many women and men were forced into a corner with very little negotiating power to push back against NDAs.

The NDAs often foster a culture of silence among victims, impacting not just their everyday life by preventing them from speaking to anyone – even a trained health professional – but also future workplaces.

Working Women Queensland director Eloise Dalton

“We often see people calling us up and saying, ‘I’m going to this job interview, and I signed this non-disclosure agreement five years ago; what can I say when they ask me why I left my previous workplace?’,” Ms Dalton said. “It’s hanging over people for years and years and years, and it’s really stopping them from moving forward, because they’re catching themselves constantly – What can I say? What can I do?”

The Victorian government was the first in the nation to commit to progressing legislative reform to restrict the use of NDAs in workplace sexual harassment cases, with laws expected to pass this year, and Ms Dalton said it was time Queensland followed suit.

The proposed legislation changes would recommend NDAs only be enforceable if victims have sought and received independent legal advice, as well as limiting the duration of the agreements allowing victim-survivors to waive their NDAs within a reasonable time frame.

Further recommendations include mandatory reporting and compliance on the use of NDAs by employers, and allowing disclosure of workplace issues to a victim’s chosen support system, including lawyers, medical professionals, and union representatives.

A spokesman for the ­Attorney-General’s office said Ms Frecklington had requested a brief from the Department of Justice on the campaign.