City’s £250,000 on gagging orders
FINANCE: More than a quarter of a million pounds was spent on ‘gagging orders’ for departing employees by York City Council last year.
It is the highest amount the council has spent on nondisclosure agreements in a single year for the past eight years and accounts for orders for 10 members of staff, five in schools.
MORE THAN a quarter of a million pounds was spent on ‘gagging orders’ for departing employees by York Council last year.
It is the highest amount the council has spent on non-disclosure agreements in a single year for the past eight years and accounts for orders for 10 members of staff, five of them worked in schools.
A spokesman for the council says a process has been introduced to manage settlement agreements.
The total cost of the “workplace gagging orders” staff were asked to sign in 2019 to 2020, was £251,471, according to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the local democracy reporting service.
The council was asked if any of the agreements were with the former council chief executive Mary Weastell, who had lodged an employment tribunal claim against the council and its leader, Keith Aspden.
The council says it is unable to comment on individual settlement agreements but can “confirm the process has been followed”.
Businesses use the legal contracts, called non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), to protect commercially-sensitive information.
But in some cases, the Government says they can be used to silence and intimidate victims of workplace abuse and it launched a review of the use of NDAs in 2019. There is no suggestion that the council has misused the agreements.
In 2019 a council spokesman said the authority was aware of concerns around the use of NDAs, that there had been a year on year reduction in their use and they took HR and legal advice in all cases.
Gagging orders are used to protect confidential information or trade secrets, says Mini Setty, partner in employment law at Langleys Solicitors. She said: “They may also be used as a way of protecting reputation or to prevent disparaging comments.”
She added that staff working for public authorities also have access to commercially sensitive information or confidential data.
Since the start of the pandemic the council has issued only one NDA at a cost of £7,651, recorded in the 2020 to 2021 financial year.
Trudy Forster, head of HR at the council, said: “The process put in place through staffing matters and urgency committee and audit and governance regarding settlement agreements (and where applicable the use of NDAs) has been implemented. The audit and governance committee will soon receive their annual update as agreed.”
Settlement agreements and NDAs cannot be used to prevent staff reporting concerns about safeguarding, to stop whistleblowing or to prevent an employee taking legal action on the grounds of discrimination.
They may also be used as a way of protecting reputation. Mini Setty, partner in employment law at Langleys Solicitors.