Gretchen Carlson is working to ban mandatory Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), confidentiality contracts that protect high-profile predators and the companies who hired them, while preventing victims from sharing their stories. According to a press release, Carlson is partnering with fellow Fox News plaintiffs Julie Roginsky and Diana Falzone to launch Lift Our Voices, an education and advocacy organization dedicated to ending mandatory NDAs.
Carlson and Roginsky sued Fox News and chairman Roger Ailes for sexual harassment and retaliation, and Falzone sued the channel for gender and disability discrimination.
The trio have started Lift Our Voices “to create a seismic cultural shift where all current and former workers and volunteers are able to speak truth to power without adverse consequences and fear of retaliation.
According to the press release, almost half of American women have experienced some type of harassment, abuse, discrimination, or retaliation while on the job. More than a third of American workers have signed NDAs, and many workers — including employees, consultants, and volunteers — are required to sign NDAs when they join a company.
Some former employees are pressured to sign NDAs as part of legal settlements. Harvey Weinstein accuser Rowena Chiu revealed she and another survivor, Zelda Perkins, were strong-armed into signing NDAs when they pursued legal action against Weinstein. They felt the had no choice but to sign “[their] lives away in a complex 30-page document that [they] could not refer to,” Chiu wrote. She eventually accepted £125,000 (about $213,000) in exchange for never speaking about Weinstein or his attempt to rape her. It would take 21 years — well after Weinstein’s fall and the rise of #MeToo — for her to feel confident enough to break the NDA.
“Lift Our Voices believes that every workplace must treat everyone who walks through its doors with dignity and respect,” Carlson, Roginsky, and Falzone stated. “For years, survivors of toxic workplace environments have either been forced into arbitration or to sign NDAs as a condition of employment, settlement or in order to receive a severance package. This is akin to a professional scarlet letter with potentially long-lasting ramifications. It can be career-ending, and often causes deep emotional, financial, and professional trauma.” They added, “Even as the #MeToo movement opens the floodgates and brings issues of workplace toxicity to the forefront, survivors must remain silent while others warp the facts. The current paradigm, which silences workers and takes away their right to share their own experiences, must end.”
Last year, Carlson inked a deal with A+E Originals to produce documentary specials. The “Fox and Friends” alumna released “Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back,” a book detailing how to fight abuse and injustice, in 2017.
Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman portrays Carlson in “Bombshell,” a drama exploring how she, Megyn Kelly, and other female Fox News employees brought Ailes down. The pic opens in limited release Friday, December 13, before expanding December 20.
