For decades, the standard ending of an Irish harassment complaint was a settlement with a silence clause — drafted by the employer’s lawyers, priced by the employer’s lawyers, signed under pressure. The law ended that model on 20 November 2024: confidentiality now belongs to the employee to choose, not the employer to impose — and the statute enforces the difference with voidness.
The New Architecture
NDAs covering allegations of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment or victimisation (or the employer’s response) are void — unless they arise from WRC mediation, or qualify as an excepted NDA: requested by the employee; preceded by independent legal advice in writing, at the employer’s reasonable cost; clear in language; unlimited in duration only if the employee chooses; withdrawable in a 14-day cooling-off; and preserving disclosure to the listed persons — Gardaí, your solicitor, your doctors and mental-health professionals, Revenue, the Ombudsman, union officials. No settlement can lawfully separate you from those conversations. The full statutory context: the 2024 rules explained.
The Advice the Act Requires — Done Properly
The statutory advice requirement is this practice’s core service, and we treat it as the Act intends: a genuine review, not a rubber stamp. That means the whole agreement examined — the sum against the claims being released (with the WRC clocks mapped, because they keep running while you consider); the wording of any confidentiality against the statutory conditions; the reference, the taxation-of-settlement questions routed to your accountant; the preserved disclosures verified; and the prior question the new law finally makes real: whether you want confidentiality at all. Where the underlying situation deserves more than the offer reflects, that honest assessment is part of the advice — a settlement reviewed is sometimes a settlement renegotiated. And where the offer follows a protected disclosure rather than (or as well as) harassment, the whistleblowing dimension gets its own analysis: exits offered mid-penalisation are drafted for the other side’s reasons.
Time limits in these cases are short, strict, and depend on your exact circumstances — WRC complaints generally run on months, civil claims on years, and important extensions exist, particularly for survivors of abuse. Never assume you are out of time, and never assume you have time: take advice promptly. Nothing on this page is legal advice for your situation.
An Agreement in Front of You?
Sign nothing yet. The advice the Act requires - at your employer's reasonable cost where it applies - reviews everything, not just the silence clause.
Call 01 5827148