NDAs in the Church?

In my routine Saturday Meanderings two days back, I posted the following and want follow it up with a word for churches and Christian institutions.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

No more NDAs, rah rah rah!

Companies can no longer offer severance agreements that prevent employees from making disparaging remarks about their former employer, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday.

The big picture: The federal agency said these agreements require employees to waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, and that such policies are a violation of the act.

·       According to the NLRB, "the employer’s offer is itself an attempt to deter employees from exercising their statutory rights, at a time when employees may feel they must give up their rights in order to get the benefits provided in the agreement."

·       Employees also cannot be prevented from disclosing the terms of their severance packages as outlined in any exit agreement, the NLRB said.

I cannot speak intelligently about the law, but this NDA discussion is rooted in the NLRA. And I am told that churches and religious institutions are exempt from some features of the NLRA. Fair enough. In fact, here’s the ruling:

Religious organizations: The Board will not assert jurisdiction over employees of a religious organization who are involved in effectuating the religious purpose of the organization, such as teachers in church-operated schools. The Board has asserted jurisdiction over employees who work in the operations of a religious organization that did not have a religious character, such as a health care institution.  

That does not stop of us from the following considerations, rooted in the idea that exemptions don’t mean NDAs can be done because churches are exempt.

Let’s say this news report is at least approximately accurate about the impropriety and illegality of a corporate body from preventing complaints and disclosures about workplace behaviors.

Let’s also say this is what some of us would say is “out in the world” or in the “secular workplace.” Grant me these two “Let’s says”, and I say this:

It’s a matter of moral obligation for the Christian workplace to have a stronger moral standard than the secular workplace. The Christian workplace ought to operate on the law of love and justice. It ought to nurture cultures of tov, of a workplace that nurtures a wise mentoring and confident flourishing of each worker.

Now, let’s also say in a Christian workplace we don’t call them “workers” or “employees” but persons with a name and a history. And we don’t even call it a Christian “workplace” but a ministry, a calling, a gift. Let’s also admit the shifting of such terms makes a difference.

It is my contention that when churches nurture this kind of culture they would never in the world enter into an NDA, a non-disparagement agreement that silences the capacity of a person to tell the truth or to be transparent in exchange for severance or employment. That’s called a bribe in that so-called secular workplace.

Here is a good word of Jesus that can shed light on the unChristian practices of NDAs:

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs (Luke 12:2-3).

I love that the NIV has “concealed” and “disclosed” and we could retranslate into “there is no non-disclosure that will not be disclosed … in the daylight.” Yes, Jesus wants what we say behind closed doors to be accountable to the public square.

So, I ask you to write to your deacons, elders, and vestry and ask them to have a greater righteousness than what the news stories are evidently reporting. Tell them to make it a by-law that “In this [name of ministry] we never require your signature for silence” and “we never will ask you to sign an NDA” and “we never exchange your word with our money.” What language do you think is best?