Human rights barrister Jennifer Robinson discusses the use of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases. For support, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). Video via AAP.
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00:00Well, just think about the high-profile cases that you will have all heard about.
00:03Harvey Weinstein, Bill Crosby, even the divorce agreement between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp
00:07had an NDA attached to it.
00:09So it's very common in a family context proceedings and family settlement
00:14for there to be non-disclosure agreements, very common in the workplace.
00:18So if you leave your job because of, or decide to leave because of sexual harassment,
00:22there's often a non-disclosure agreement that's signed on the way out as part of your settlement.
00:25What is difficult, and as you understand as a journalist,
00:29and I know as a lawyer, once those agreements are signed,
00:32they're really hard to get out of.
00:34And so the problem is that over many years,
00:37if we look at the Harvey Weinstein non-disclosure agreements, for example,
00:41basically these, frankly, reading them myself, I came to this late
00:45in the sense that Zelda Perkins, the whistleblower who spoke out about Harvey Weinstein,
00:49came to see me before she wanted to speak out.
00:52And when I looked at her agreement, I was like, well, this is not enforceable.
00:55They can't stop you from going to the police.
00:57That's an unenforceable contract because it's counted public policy.
01:01And yet all these women were signing agreements drafted by lawyers
01:03who have ethical obligations,
01:06which they believe stopped them from going to the police.
01:11Now, that's just wrong.
01:12But women persisted in this belief and this false assumption
01:15because they didn't have proper legal advice.
01:27they were not safe.
01:30They didn't have proper legal advice.
01:31They didn't have a legal advice.
01:32They were not Brewing Van Dyn.
01:32They were not always accountable.
01:34They can't stop them, they're not Clear