• Mandatory requirements for information statements and a review period before a worker signs an NDA
• Allowing a worker who has entered an NDA to talk to certain people and bodies such as Victoria Police, and medical and legal professionals
• Allowing a worker to end an NDA after 12 months of notice to the other party

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the legislation will ensure that victims of workplace sexual harassment will have a voice.

"How can we have a hope of stopping sexual harassment in the workplace when the conduct gets hidden, the victim gets silenced and the powerful stay protected?" Allan said in a statement.

NDA use in sexual harassment cases

Restricting NDAs is a recommendation from Victoria's Ministerial Taskforce on Workplace Sexual Harassment in 2022. It was also recommended by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in its report in June.

An NDA is an agreement between two or more parties that prohibits the participants from disclosing information to others.

These binding contracts are widely used in settlement processes involving workplace sexual harassment claims, according to the AHRC, which heard that the agreements are more likely to protect organisations and harassers rather than the victims.

"Strict NDAs continue to be overused in the resolution of sexual harassment matters," the AHRC report read.

"Although NDAs mostly require all parties (employer, victim-survivor, and the perpetrator) to maintain confidentiality, the agreement is almost...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMizAFBVV95cUxQNTEzZU51MEZzMFB1WE9fZEZQ...