NDAs work well… until they don’t – by Rachael O’Connor, metro.co.uk

Excerpts from Rachael O’Connor’s 29 May article on former Shazam! presenter Philip Schofield that relate to employment law follow:

Now, in an interview on GB News with Dan Wootton, [ITV presenter Eamonn Holmes] claimed Schofield ‘created an atmosphere where people hated him. People would avoid him in the corridor. He didn’t look at anybody, didn’t know anybody’s name.’

He labeled the former presenter [Phillip Schofield] a ‘narcissist,’ and said he was doing the interview on behalf of people ‘who were gagged’ from speaking about it.

Holmes went on to read out a message purportedly from someone who used to work at ITV, saying they were forced to sign an NDA after they left with a payout.

Editor's note: In an article to follow, we will explore the differences between employment NDAs (non-disclosure or non-disparagement agreements) under British law, and the New Zealand equivalent, Records of Settlement (RoS) under Section 149 of the Employment Relations Act with regard to legality and enforceability. We have previously discovered RoS that have been used as an instrument of fraud, and its terms enforced in the Employment Relations Authority as though they were legal, although we don't yet have enough information to suggest that any ITV NDAs were illegal.