Fact Check: Michael Bloomberg Claims Employee NDAs Were ‘Consensual’

CLAIM: Michael Bloomberg claimed during Wednesday’s Democratic debate that the non-disclosure agreements reached between his company and employees who allegedly experienced misconduct were “consensual” and weren’t forced upon those employees.

VERDICT: False

While the confidential nature of NDA’s makes it difficult to ascertain the veracity of Bloomberg’s claim, at least one Bloomberg employee has publicly stated that she was coerced into signing her NDA. She also alleges that the company pressured other employees to sign the agreements.

Laurie Evans, who worked as director of custom content for Bloomberg’s Business Week, alleges that she was pressured to sign a non-disclosure agreement just days after she was hospitalized for mental illness, according to multiple reports.

Evans, who is suing Bloomberg,  is reportedly accusing the company of coercing employees to sign agreements that were vague, misleading, and filled with misstatements and omissions. She also alleges that the NDAs were written in a way that an average employee would find difficult to understand.

Evans says she was fired from Bloomberg in November 2016 while being treated for breast cancer. She claims that the company created a “culture of discrimination” that caused her extreme emotional distress.

Bloomberg’s media empire is facing accusations that it protected high-ranking employees from accusations of harassment and misconduct. Business Insider revealed multiple lawsuits over decades alleging misconduct and a toxic workplace, including two allegations of rape.

Despite growing calls for the company to release its employees from the NDAs, Bloomberg has so far declined to do so.

At Wednesday’s debate, candidates, including Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, called on Bloomberg to allow those former employees to speak publicly about their experiences working at the company.

But the former mayor of New York emphasized that these agreements were “consensual” and indicated that he would hold former employees to the confidential nature of those agreements.

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