Under the consultation, ‘Make work pay: misuse of NDAs’, which closes tonight, lack of such advice would invalidate any NDA concerning workplace harassment or discrimination. However, it is not clear who would foot the bill.
Andrew Peters, head of employment law at TWM Solicitors, said: ‘Where employers do pay for comparable legal advice for their employees, such as in settlement agreements, they typically cap the contribution at an average of £500.
‘In our experience, such levels of contributions would only allow for basic advice to be provided and certainly would not be enough to cover detailed written legal advice on an NDA, which would cost substantially more.’
Peters said allowing legal advice to be given verbally, which employees sometimes preferred, would be ‘the most straightforward fix’.
