BOSTON (WWLP) – Non-disclosure agreements are often used to keep information from getting out, which can include unprofessional and sometimes inappropriate behavior.
A clear message was sent to top state lawmakers who are in favor of keeping NDAs around.
“This is our opportunity to do the right thing and get on the right side of history,” Senator Dizoglio said.
Sen. DiZoglio (D-Haverhill) was joined by former Fox News hosts Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky to speak out against using taxpayer funds for NDA Agreements.
“You are politicians who are accountable to your constituents, their taxpayer dollars should not be spent on, one dime of their taxpayer dollars should not be spent on covering up any kind of predatory behavior,” Julie Roginsky said.
Carlson and several of her colleagues filed a lawsuit against former Fox News president Roger Ailes for allegedly sexually assaulting them and using NDAs to keep them silent.
“When women and men have the courage to come forward and say that they’re working in a toxic workplace environment the automatic reaction should not be, ‘oh let’s get rid of her, let’s call in the old system we’ve been using for 30 years, let’s call in the lawyers, let’s figure out how we’re going to pay her, then we’ll shut her up,'” Carlson said.
Last year, state senators voted unanimously to ban the use of these agreements, but Republican Governor Charlie Baker and House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) have continued to allow them.
“I think giving victims the opportunity to have an NDA if they believe that’s the best way to provide protection to themselves, then yes,” Gov. Baker said.
The bill still sits in the Judiciary Committee, and if it isn’t voted on by the February 5 deadline then it will die in Committee.
PHOTOS: Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky at Boston Statehouse
