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 service 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 suppress details of wrongdoing including sexual harassment, discrimination and racism.
Zelda Perkins, Harvey Weinstein’s former personal assistant and campaigner against the use of non-disclosure agreements, and campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed have called on ITN to release women from what they describe as “gagging orders” in settlement agreements they have signed.
ITN said it “maintains a zero-tolerance approach to any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination, investigating any alleged incidents fully and taking appropriate action where necessary”.
Perkins, who set up Can’t Buy My Silence with Canadian author and NDA whistleblower Dr Julie Macfarlane after playing a major role in exposing Weinstein’s abuse, said it was time for Channel 4 News to follow the BBC’s lead in not using non-disclosure clauses for anything other than intellectual property.
In 2019 former NBC News employees who signed nondisclosure agreements with the network after making complaints about sexual harassment were released from “confidentiality or non-disparagement provision[s] in their separation agreement[s]” said NBCUniversal. ITN’s CEO, Deborah Turness, who is set to leave the company to become the BBC’s CEO of news and current affairs, was president of NBC News International at the time.
“Channel 4 News now has the opportunity to stand up and earn its description as an inclusive and progressive workplace,” said Perkins.
Pregnant Then Screwed and Can’t Buy My Silence have launched a petition asking Channel 4 News and ITN to release all employees from confidentiality clauses. Perkins added: “This is the chance to be on the side of right, to protect your employees and have a safe and transparent workplace. Why would any company refuse?”
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed said non-disclosure provisions could have a “devastating” impact on those who had signed them, calling them “legal weapons used by the powerful to silence women,” she said.
ITN said: “ITN does not use NDAs for employees. There have been only a small number of settlement agreements over the past few years. The inclusion of confidentiality provisions is standard across the industry and agreed by mutual consent, in many cases at the request of the individual and their lawyer. This does not preclude any individual from whistleblowing where this is in the public interest.”
