A Global Campaign to end the Misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements to Buy Survivor Silence

The #MeToo Movement brought attention to sexual harassment and sexual misconduct including harassers like Harvey Weinstein who have repeatedly harmed individuals. It also started a discussion about the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in settlements preventing the complainant from being able to speak about what happened. NDAs protect the employer and the harasser by silencing the complainant. With #MeToo, some women, like Zelda Perkins, chose to break their NDAs and speak out. There is now a global campaign to bring awareness to the harms caused by NDAs and lobby to ban their use.

Learn more about the campaign at cantbuymysilence.com

What’s the problem?

You may wonder, what is the harm if the complainant signs an NDA as part of the settlement? Signing an NDA means you can’t talk about what happened; this often means you can never speak to anyone (including family and mental health professionals) about what happened.

NDAs:

  • May prevent a complainant from speaking to family and friends about their own experiences;
  • May prevent someone from getting counselling support needed to deal with the trauma of the sexual harassment;
  • Prevents a complainant from warning others about the harasser;
  • Protects the employer’s reputation and the career of the harasser;
  • Allows the harasser to stay in their position, or move to another workplace without revealing any information about the harm they have caused;
  • May put the complainant, and sometimes their coworkers, in awkward positions when they can’t speak about what happened: can’t explain problems at work or reasons for leaving;
  • Have a chilling effect on anyone who wants to speak up about wrongdoing; and
  • Cause people who sign NDAs to live in fear of accidentally breaking the agreement.

People are often pressured to sign NDAs, and may not understand they can refuse or negotiate something different. Sometimes people think that they will never want to talk about what happened and sign an NDA, but years later, find that they cannot heal because they haven’t been able to talk about and process what happened. Blanket NDAs are not necessary to protect a complainant’s identity, yet they are damaging to innocent parties, and hide harmful information from the public.

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What’s Happening

With increasing recognition of the problems with NDAs in sexual harassment and sexual misconduct cases, some places are passing laws restricting the use of NDAs. This includes more than 17 US states (including: California, Washington, Oregon, New York), and restrictions in the UK in the higher education context. In Canada, P.E.I. passed legislation in 2021; Ontario passed legislation restricting NDAs in the post- secondary education and real estate contexts in 2022; Manitoba, Nova Scotia, BC, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec and the Federal government are discussing draft laws.

CLAS and Stand Informed want to raise awareness about the problems with NDAs and encourage discussion about restricting the use of NDAs in sexual harassment and sexual misconduct cases in British Columbia. We need your help to show people in BC are concerned about this issue.

In the Spring of 2023, Can’t Buy My Silence and the BC Green Party have collaborated to introduce a bill in the BC Legislature, calling on government to reform the use of NDAs in the province. The proposed legislation, known as Bill M215 or the Non-Disclosure Agreements Act, was tabled by BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau in March 2023. The bill seeks to prevent employers from using NDAs in settling cases of harassment and discrimination, unless it is the expressed wish of the person who signs the NDA. The bill also seeks to ensure that people have the opportunity to seek legal advice before signing an NDA, among other provisions.

The Can’t Buy My Silence website contains more information on the bill, including a petition that British Columbians can sign to support it, under the section titled “BC Green Party and CBMS launch petition”, in the “More Information” button.

The Uniform Law Conference of Canada established a Working Group on NDAs in 2023 to consider the development of model legislation to address the concerns related to the use of NDAs. Stand Informed Supervising Lawyer, Jennifer Khor, is a member of the Working Group. The Working Group shared a progress report at the ULCC annual meeting in August 2023.

How You Can Participate

Share Your Experience (anonymously)

Because NDAs silence survivors of sexual harassment, it is difficult to collect information on the problems NDAs can cause. If you have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, we invite you to anonymously share your story. The questions are designed to collect information on the experience of bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, and how often NDAs are used. You will not be asked to identify yourself or your workplace. The information you share will help us to better understand the issues when NDAs are used and raise awareness about the impact.

Share Your Experience

If you are being asked to sign an NDA or have signed an NDA related to workplace sexual harassment and want free legal advice, contact Stand Informed Legal Advice Services. 

If you have comments and suggestions for the development of model legislation please email standinformed@clasbc.net Re: NDA legislation, and we will review and share with the ULCC Working Group.

Learn more about our data partner Speak Out Revolution: https://www.speakoutrevolution.co.uk

You can see the insights from the stories collected so far on the Speak Out Dashboard below. (Click here to view the below dashboard fullscreen.)

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Our Blog Posts on NDAs

Who are we really protecting? The use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) in sexual harassment and sexual misconduct cases

Social Posts on NDAs