Parliamentary Privilege and a Jaundiced Judiciary

The recent case of a member of the House of Lords using parliamentary privilege to name Philip Green as the businessman who had gone to court to block the reporting of the non-disclosure agreements (NDA) he had entered into with staff employed by him raises issues of the role of the courts in promoting fairness and equality. It would appear the court decided the NDAs were entered into willingly and therefore should be considered valid and lawful.

I was brought up to believe that courts are meant to dispense justice with the objective of reinforcing social values and norms. It is hard to believe that NDAs entered into as a result of one party’s improper conduct should be considered worthy of protection over any consideration of public best interest. The fact that NDAs are very much the province of the rich and powerful raises the question of how fair it can be in real terms. And when it is used to buy the silence of workers who might have been wronged by an employer then it feels manifestly unfair.