Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Gagging the victims
The Independent reports that police have used hundreds of gagging orders to silence victims of misogyny, amid concerns forces are trying to “sweep the issue under the carpet”.
The paper says that new figures reveal forces in England and Wales have imposed 243 non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or other types of gagging orders, to stop staff from talking about their treatment following employment tribunal claims, in the past five years. More than half of these, a total of 133 were issued by the Metropolita Police:
The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information laws by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which represents police staff, come as it called on police chiefs to stop using NDAs.
Only one police force, Durham Constabulary, responded to the FOI request to say they had ceased their use in relation to discrimination complaints.
In an address on rooting out misogyny, given to the PFEW annual conference on Tuesday, Sue Honeywill, its joint wellbeing and women’s group lead, said: “The question must be asked, why enforce the silence? Are chief constables trying to sweep cases under the carpet? Is the reputation of the force more important than justice for the victim?
“The only way we will regain the trust and confidence of the victims and the wider public is to face up to wrongdoing, deal with the perpetrators and implement changes where they are needed.
“We therefore publicly call on chief constables to cease the use of clauses in NDAs, COT3 [a settlement between employer and employee] and settlements that seek to silence the victim from being to speak about their experience if they choose to.
“Let’s not be afraid of the negative coverage this may entail. We need to focus and we need to learn. Only then will we be able to move forward.”
Her comments come after PFEW chair Steve Hartshorn wrote to police and crime commissioners last year, warning that the use of police NDAs was “on a par with how whistleblowers in the NHS were silenced”.
He wrote: “We believe that no police officer should ever be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to settle a claim.
“We believe that too often forces treat the cases our members bring as an unproven aberration rather than valuable learning, much less highlight the issues raised internally or inform other forces about the mistakes they have made so they can consider how they might respond.”
So far this year, the PFEW had already logged 68 employment civil matters, relating to sexual harassment, maternity, pregnancy and victimisation, Ms Honeywill told the conference.
Sweeping misbehaviour under the carpet is no way to win the confidence of the public.
The paper says that new figures reveal forces in England and Wales have imposed 243 non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or other types of gagging orders, to stop staff from talking about their treatment following employment tribunal claims, in the past five years. More than half of these, a total of 133 were issued by the Metropolita Police:
The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information laws by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which represents police staff, come as it called on police chiefs to stop using NDAs.
Only one police force, Durham Constabulary, responded to the FOI request to say they had ceased their use in relation to discrimination complaints.
In an address on rooting out misogyny, given to the PFEW annual conference on Tuesday, Sue Honeywill, its joint wellbeing and women’s group lead, said: “The question must be asked, why enforce the silence? Are chief constables trying to sweep cases under the carpet? Is the reputation of the force more important than justice for the victim?
“The only way we will regain the trust and confidence of the victims and the wider public is to face up to wrongdoing, deal with the perpetrators and implement changes where they are needed.
“We therefore publicly call on chief constables to cease the use of clauses in NDAs, COT3 [a settlement between employer and employee] and settlements that seek to silence the victim from being to speak about their experience if they choose to.
“Let’s not be afraid of the negative coverage this may entail. We need to focus and we need to learn. Only then will we be able to move forward.”
Her comments come after PFEW chair Steve Hartshorn wrote to police and crime commissioners last year, warning that the use of police NDAs was “on a par with how whistleblowers in the NHS were silenced”.
He wrote: “We believe that no police officer should ever be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to settle a claim.
“We believe that too often forces treat the cases our members bring as an unproven aberration rather than valuable learning, much less highlight the issues raised internally or inform other forces about the mistakes they have made so they can consider how they might respond.”
So far this year, the PFEW had already logged 68 employment civil matters, relating to sexual harassment, maternity, pregnancy and victimisation, Ms Honeywill told the conference.
Sweeping misbehaviour under the carpet is no way to win the confidence of the public.
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NDAs are binding contracts. However, "NDAs that prevent an individual from reporting illegal or unethical activity in the workplace may be deemed unenforceable because they interfere with important public policy goals, such as maintaining the integrity of the workplace and preventing discrimination or harassment" according to the US web-site lexis/nexis. Surely the same principle applies to English & Welsh law?
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