Posted on 11/16/2017 4:07:27 AM PST by jiggyboy
A state senator from Berks County has introduced legislation that would, if enacted, prohibit non-disclosure agreements in the settlement of civil claims for sexual assault or harassment.
-- snip --
She wants victims to be fully empowered to speak up about what happened, who did it, and to seek damages for it; and she doesn't want to continue to permit "safe spaces" that keep bad actors' actions hidden.
"I believe more and more people are seeing just how harmful these agreements are to women... and how they actually enable sexual harassment to grow like a cancer in workplaces, schools and the community," Schwank said.
"We can no longer grant predators and enablers a place to hide, a place to continue to ambush the unaware and the vulnerable."
The proposed legislation may run into resistance, however, from some members of the state's trial bar.
(Excerpt) Read more at pennlive.com ...
(pennlive.com is the website of The Harrisburg Patriot-News newspaper.)
Well, yeah. Everything goes to trial. Great idea, but lawyers are going to squeal about doing 100 x the work for the same money.
Did the state legislature exempt itself from that?
Just checking...
It should be illegal to have a monetary settlement in what would otherwise be a criminal case, imo.
If you claim your boss raped you, it should be illegal to accept a monetary settlement to remain silent about a felony crime.
Such settlements reek of extortion and payoffs, and they allow the criminal to continue committing his crimes without fear of prosecution.
A 2 edged sword. Paying hush money shuts up the noisy pot stirrer looking for a payday. It ain’t always about covering up a transgression. Just as often the money is a cheaper means of paying off a blackmailer.
If you’re going to pay someone else, you can be honest about it. FWIW, I have no problem making both sides abide by full disclosure.
If your boss raped you, and you accept money for it to keep your mouth shut, then it is no longer a felony case.
It is merely high paid prostitution. And if you are fine with that then it is no one else’s business.
What the banning of non-disclosure agreements will do is halt all civil solutions to these charges. Every claim will have to go through the courts since the accused’s reputation is going to be ruined no matter what happens.
What we will see is fully half (or more) of the people who get settlements now will get nothing as almost all of these are he said/she said cases. There is no proof of guilt or even evidence of misbehavior in the vast majority of these cases.
Since the accused’s name is going to be dragged through the mud anyway he (she?) may as well fight the charge in court. When he wins he can say that the accuser was just a bimbo seeking to blackmail him and the court agrees.
So if it is a civil or damages case from supposed harassment, you can be required to pay the claimant tens of thousands and then they can continue to lie about you and damage you despite a finding or settlement?
Interesting, no power to contract for settlement but to one side only.
So if you are a male professional and you hire a woman, kiss it goodbye.
Well I’d assume the disclosure now goes both ways.
So, yes, the man accused of harassment is named in the public record, but so is his accuser.
That fact alone should lower the number of false claims. Who’s gonna hire a woman who’s filed a harassment suit in the past? What jury is going to find in favor of a serial accuser?
If your boss raped you, it’s a felony.
Accepting a payoff changes nothing about the crime. You are merely keeping quiet about a felony crime, and allowing the felon to rape someone else.
If the rape came to light after the payoff, but within the statute of limitations, your boss could still go to jail for a very long time. He’d still be fired for committing a felony.
There’s nothing to stop the victim from going to the police anyway.
The whole idea of paying off the victim of your crime to get out of jail should be illegal, imo.
Close off lines of retreat and expect battles to the death.
It’s gonna get real tough now.
You miss the entire point.
If your boss rapes you, and you accept money for it, the act becomes consensual after the fact. It’s just prostitution.
If it’s a crime, then prosecute it as a crime immediately. Once you take money for the act it is no longer a crime it is a contract.
And the evidence that exists of you taking the money severely taints any future criminal case anyway. (”Why didn’t she report it immediately? Why did she accept payment for it? Isn’t she just a prostitute?”). Especially in cases where no evidence of any rape exists.
If you don’t want him to be allowed to perform that act again, then forego the money and press charges now.
Do you see where I am coming from?
You can either have the money or the criminal prosecution, not both.
Banning non-disclosure settlements reduces the options to only one, criminal prosecution. Which means that most “victims” will get nothing as they cannot prove the act ever happened. He said/she said is not evidence.
I’ve lived in Pennsylvania most of my life, and I can tell you there is virtually no good idea that lawyers here can’t squelch.
The money is not payment for the “sex”, it’s payment to keep quiet about a crime. It’s not prostitution, it’s more like extortion.
Frankly, I think they should be illegal in all instances. Especially any civil rights actions. Let us find out who are, and who are not, the bad guys.
Related:
The latest changes to a Senate Republican tax plan, released at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, include ... a new provision that might be called the Harvey Weinstein tax: An end to corporations’ ability to deduct attorney fees and settlement payments in sexual harassment or abuse cases if there is a nondisclosure agreement. ...
The change dealing with lawsuit settlements was proposed by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and spokesman Juan Pachon said it was motivated by publicity about settlements over harassment by Hollywood producer Weinstein and former Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly.
Weinstein, O’Reilly and their companies have used nondisclosure agreements, in legal settlements or employment contracts, to compel employees to keep quiet about alleged wrongdoing. Such agreements are pervasive in the business world, where they’re used to protect everything from company secrets to sexual harassment.
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