Introduction

Part of embracing equity on International Women's Day includes ongoing work to effectively address discrimination and harassment at the workplace.

Over the past five years, there has been increasing advocacy in Canada for laws that protect survivors of discrimination and harassment – particularly with respect to placing limitations on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Recently, on 9 February 2023, the Canadian Bar Association passed a resolution discouraging the use of NDAs to silence whistle-blowers and victims of abuse, discrimination and harassment.

This article describes:

• the use of NDAs in settlement agreements in Canada;
• recent legislation in Canada that limits the use of NDAs in cases involving discrimination and harassment; and
• the potential impact of these changes on the Canadian legal system.

Use of NDAs in resolving workplace misconduct claims

Laws that enable parties to arrive at private settlement agreements promote the resolution of workplace misconduct claims without the significant cost, resources and emotional energy of an adversarial legal process of a trial, hearing or arbitration.

It is a very common practice for Canadian lawyers to include some form of an NDA in the terms of a settlement agreement, whether such an agreement is specifically requested or not. Given how common the practice has become, lawyers do not always stop to consider the purpose of including NDAs as a standard term in settlement agreements, what they are...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMifmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmxleG9sb2d5LmNvbS9j...