Former Channel 4 News employee ‘traumatised’ after signing NDA
A former employee of Channel 4 News has told the Guardian she was left feeling “traumatised” and “gagged” after signing a settlement agreement containing a confidentiality clause with the company.
The Conservative MP Maria Miller, a former culture secretary and a campaigner against the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), has written to the CEO of ITN, which produces Channel 4 News, saying she had been “approached by a number of whistleblowers”, and expressing her concern about “the apparent use of NDAs to cover up wrongdoing” around gender pay discrimination, harassment and bullying made against the public server broadcaster, the Times reported.
“I’m keen to see the misuse of NDAs tackled in the next employment bill. I was involved in the recent pledge to stop the use of NDAs at universities,” she said.
“That is a step in the right direction and if it’s good enough for universities, it’s good enough for everybody else including broadcasters who report on these issues and help shape our culture. We need to stop the use of NDAs to cover up discrimination and wrongdoing.”
The former employee, who signed a confidentiality clause as part of a financial settlement and whose case is one of those referenced by Miller, told the Guardian that it had left her struggling with her mental health. “The experience left me feeling gagged and helpless and unable to turn a page in my life. I think that Channel 4 News employees believe in free speech and losing the ability to talk about what happened to me has been extremely traumatising.”
The use of confidentiality clauses in the settlement of employment cases is common, but campaigners argue their use in companies and organisations has become endemic and say they can be misused to
Read more on theguardian.com
