SNP MP Hannah Bardell: I signed non-disclosure agreement after workplace bullying

A Scottish politician has revealed that she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) after she experienced bullying in a job she held before entering politics.

Hannah Bardell, MP for Livingston, was appearing on BBC Question Time amid a national discussion on NDAs in the wake of the naming of businessman Sir Philip Green as the person accused by the Daily Telegraph of sexual and racist inappropriate behaviour.

Ms Bardell was asked whether rich and powerful people should be able to use NDAs as a ‘cloak of invisibility’ against claims of harassment.

Hannah Bardell. (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

The SNP representative said that ‘not that long’ before being elected in 2015, she had to sign an NDA after being bullied in a previous job, saying she was put in a ‘difficult position’.

She said: “It’s something I’ve never spoken about, but given I’ve got a voice I feel I should use it. I know a lot of other people who were treated inappropriately.

“I can’t go too much into it, but I was being bullied and I was put in a very difficult position where I thought I was going to be pushed out of the door and be unemployed.

“It was a choice between taking a case to court or having to leave without a job. It was not long before I stood for election.

“I know lots of people who have been bullied, I know legal firms in the City who use these and they abuse them.”

The former oil and gas worker said that she couldn’t say anymore, or disclose any financial terms related to the NDA.

An injunction in an English court stopped Philip Green being named by the Telegraph, but using parliamentary privelege he was named in the House of Lords by former Labour Minister Peter Hain.

He has ‘categorically’ denied the claims.