NDAs are commonly incorporated into settlement agreements to keep things quiet and move on. The Employment Rights Bill will change the law on NDAs – making them void insofar as they prevent disclosure of allegation of harassment and discrimination, save for very limited exceptions.

Is the quick and quiet settlement agreement going to become unattractive to employers if, in the public’s mind, settlement infers guilt, or is there still a place for a settlement with additional efforts to agree announcements that can be made to the press? This article explores how approaches to investigations, responding to complaints, and settlement might fundamentally change, once an NDA ban comes in, and what HR can do now to begin to prepare.