Bloomberg offers to release three women from NDAs

Michael Bloomberg announced Friday that his business will release three women from their non-disclosure agreements if they contact the company.

The Democratic presidential primary contender and former mayor of New York City said that his organization found three NDA’s signed by women regarding complaints about comments they alleged Bloomberg made.

Those agreements were signed over a more than three-decade period the candidate said. Bloomberg also committed that going forward, as long as he helms the business, the company will stop employing such agreements for allegations involving sexual harassment and misconduct.

“I recognize that NDAs, particularly when they are used in the context of sexual harassment and sexual assault, promote a culture of silence in the workplace and contribute to a culture of women not feeling safe or supported,” Bloomberg said in the statement. “It is imperative that when problems occur, workplaces not only address the specific incidents, but the culture and practices that led to those incidents. And then leaders must act.”

I’ve decided that for as long as I’m running Bloomberg LP, we won’t offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward. This goes the same for our campaign.

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 21, 2020

Bloomberg’s announcement comes as a reversal from his response earlier this week when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) hammered him about the issue of NDAs during the Democratic presidential primary debate on Feb. 19 in Las Vegas.

“We have a very few non-disclosure agreements,” Bloomberg said.

“How many is that?,” Sen. Warren asked.

“None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told,” Bloomberg explained, adding that they were “agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet, and that’s up to them, they signed those agreements, and we’ll live with it.”

Sen. Warren fired back at Bloomberg, questioning whether he would allow the signers to speak publicly.

“And when you say they signed them and they wanted them, if they wish now to speak out and tell their side of the story about what it is they allege, that’s now OK with you, you’re releasing them on television tonight?”

Bloomberg again said that the agreements would remain in place.

Watch the exchange below: