Women who report sexual harassment or bullying at work are being silenced with gagging orders

Hundreds of women who report sexual harassment or bullying at work are being silenced with gag orders, the Mail can reveal.

More than one in four people who have been mistreated in the workplace are asked by their employers to sign “non-disclosure agreements” (NDAs) that prevent them from speaking publicly.

Eight in ten of these people are women, fueling fears that sexism is still very common.

Treasury Committee MPs, who recently published a damning inquiry into sexism in the city, are now calling for gagging orders to be banned in cases of sexual harassment.

The parliamentary report found that companies regularly used legally binding contracts to “cover up” abuses and make problems “go away”.

Now, figures seen by the Mail – compiled by anonymous whistleblowing website Speak Out Revolution – highlight the use of NDAs and how they disproportionately impact women. The group has recorded 888 cases of harassment and bullying at work since 2020. Of those, 711 victims were women, or 80 percent.

And 27 percent have said they were forced to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Respondents came from a variety of industries, including law and business.

Harriett Baldwin, chairwoman of the Treasury committee, warned that these figures could be just the tip of the iceberg.

“The Treasury Committee found a trend of companies using NDAs to remove victims of sexual harassment from a company while the perpetrator is protected,” he told the Mail.

‘Our research only focused on the financial sector; “These figures showing that the problem may be more widespread are extremely worrying,” he added.

Speak Out Revolution also found that women ages 18 to 24 and those over 55 are most likely to have signed a confidentiality agreement: 33 percent of women ages 18 to 24 and 43 percent of those ages 55 and older. 55 years were silenced.

In December, Women’s Minister Kemi Badenoch confirmed the Government was looking for “an elegant solution” to prevent the misuse of NDAs more widely.

Frances Holmes, founder of Speak Out Revolution, said: “The government faces a choice: continue to silence harassed women or take action to create safer workplaces.”

The findings also follow a series of recent scandals including allegations of sexual harassment and assault made by women against fund manager Crispin Odey, as well as allegations of sexual misconduct at the CBI.

The Treasury committee noted that while there had been some improvements in the city, it warned that progress was still too slow.