The Campaign to End NDAs
Scape @ Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:47 pm
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Nondisclosure agreements, by their nature, can be a tricky thing to track. Because they often contain terms that prohibit confirmation of their very existence, it’s hard to know just how many are out there or to get a firm handle on trends.
But Julie Macfarlane has a pretty good idea. This week, the University of Windsor law professor emerita is launching a campaign in Canada and the UK called Can’t Buy My Silence, advocating for legislation to limit the utility of NDAs as an all-purpose muzzle, especially in cases involving allegations of wrongdoing.
“We’re working in our campaign with a partner in the UK, who has been putting out a survey now for a couple of years to people who’ve been, in particular, bullied and harassed in their workplaces,” she says. “And that survey asks them anonymously to say whether or not they’ve signed a nondisclosure agreement.”
The clever twist is that in addition to “yes” or “no,” the survey gives participants the option of indicating that they can’t answer for legal reasons — a pretty clear sign that they are in fact party to an NDA.
“And based on that data, which is now approximately 600 respondents, we know that about one in three people who have reported an incident of harassment or intimidation or bullying at their workplace have been asked to sign an NDA,” she says.
But that could still be a low-ball estimate. “There are lawyers who would tell you that up to 95 percent of civil settlements now include some kind of nondisclosure agreement.”
On this week’s episode of CANADALAND, Macfarlane talks with host Jesse Brown about the growing uses and abuses of NDAs, why they can seem scarier than they actually are, and why she’s teaming up with Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, to try to bring a near-total end to the practice.
But Julie Macfarlane has a pretty good idea. This week, the University of Windsor law professor emerita is launching a campaign in Canada and the UK called Can’t Buy My Silence, advocating for legislation to limit the utility of NDAs as an all-purpose muzzle, especially in cases involving allegations of wrongdoing.
“We’re working in our campaign with a partner in the UK, who has been putting out a survey now for a couple of years to people who’ve been, in particular, bullied and harassed in their workplaces,” she says. “And that survey asks them anonymously to say whether or not they’ve signed a nondisclosure agreement.”
The clever twist is that in addition to “yes” or “no,” the survey gives participants the option of indicating that they can’t answer for legal reasons — a pretty clear sign that they are in fact party to an NDA.
“And based on that data, which is now approximately 600 respondents, we know that about one in three people who have reported an incident of harassment or intimidation or bullying at their workplace have been asked to sign an NDA,” she says.
But that could still be a low-ball estimate. “There are lawyers who would tell you that up to 95 percent of civil settlements now include some kind of nondisclosure agreement.”
On this week’s episode of CANADALAND, Macfarlane talks with host Jesse Brown about the growing uses and abuses of NDAs, why they can seem scarier than they actually are, and why she’s teaming up with Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, to try to bring a near-total end to the practice.
Gagged by law
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Non-disclosure agreements are incredibly common. But they protect abusers, and block journalism. They are also, as it turns out, often unenforceable. Zelda Perkins, who blew the whistle on Harvey Weinstein, has joined forces with law professor Julie Macfarlane to launch a global campaign against NDAs, called Can't Buy My Silence.
DrCaleb @ Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:54 am
Good.
I especially take exception to clauses like 'we can change the agreement at anytime, without letting anyone know'. That not only defeats the purpose of a contract (both parties consenting to known terms), it opens it to abuse.