Harassment in the Workplace Attorney in Woodland Hills, California

Sexual Harassment Settlements & Confidentiality: What are the current legal trends in the use of confidentiality in sexual harassment cases?

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So there’s been a very recent change, obviously, in not only the law itself but in also the tenor of sexual harassment claims. With the #metoo movement there has been an increased focus on sexual harassment claims and there’s been a push legislatively and, in the states, and on the federal level to ban confidentiality agreements in sexual harassment situations. There had already been a foundation of barring confidentiality in sexual assault claims and the purpose behind that is that courts and the legislatures do not want sexual predators to be out there being able to pay their way off when they engage in that type of conduct.

But the expansion of the law has made clear that even though confidentiality agreements have a particular role in our litigation system that the courts are going to be looking to severely limit the use of confidentiality so that predators such as a Harvey Weinstein or those types of people out there in society cannot continue to assault people in the workplace. I think that the hardest part from the employer side is that many employers value greatly the confidentiality clause as an ability to protect their interests and their business reputation out in the community when, for example, a rogue employee harasses another employee and maybe they don’t have notice.

And so, the problem with the trend, in my opinion, is that confidentiality clauses allow in many situations for employers to pay a bit more on claims that they might not pay for to keep those quiet and under wraps, which can be appropriate in certain circumstance. But if the legislature removes those, the ability for employers to cloak some claims in confidentiality then I think that victims will suffer because victims will not be able to get the larger settlements that they’re allowed to achieve when those things can be maintained as confidential. It really takes away a leverage item and a tool to settle those cases in a way that’s efficient for the system.

Los Angeles, CA employment lawyer David G. Jones talks about the current trends regarding confidentiality in sexual harassment cases.

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