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When Zelda Perkins signed a non-disclosure agreement with Miramax in 1998, she was sworn to secrecy about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged harassment of herself and a colleague. For 20 years Perkins stuck by the undertaking, which banned any publicizing of Weinstein’s unwanted advances. But at the end of 2017, she publicly broke that contract, jeopardizing her future and her bank account.

As the dust of #MeToo settles, society everywhere is being forced to confront a problem that appears to be universal. Since the unmasking of Hollywood producer Weinstein in late 2017, it has become clear...

The Time’s Up campaign got as good a launch as could be hoped for on Sunday, with a heavy promotion at the Golden Globes. By midweek, the campaign had raised more than$16 millionfor its legal defense fund, including numerous donations of $25 or $50 apiece from the general public.

But the administration of the fund, and the criteria by which cases will be parceled out to lawyers and supported through donations, remains very much a work in progress. The fund will be based at the National Women’s Law Center, which launched a network of cooperating attorneys to take on sexual harassment...

The sexual harassment and sexual-assault stories currently roiling the entertainment industry have stars and fans in a fighting mood. So it was no surprise when Gal Gadot’s contract negotiations made headlines. Gadot, whose Wonder Woman is the lone real breakout superhero of the DC movie franchise, reportedly declared that she wouldn’t sign for future installments unless the movies were no longer financed by RatPac-Dune Entertainment. RatPac is co-founded by director and producer Brett Ratner, who has been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault by a number of women. Ratner’s...

Gretchen Carlson, O&G partner Kathleen Peratis discuss Non-Disclosure Agreements and arbitration.

The sexual harassment and assault revelations just keep coming.  Bill O’Reilly and his stunning $32 million harassment settlement of complaints brought by a colleague at Fox News.  Harvey Weinstein, and former employees begging to be allowed to speak.  One breaking her nondisclosure agreement to tell all.  Those agreements have kept women silent for years.  Gretchen Carlson signed one with Fox.  She’s with us. This hour, On Point:  Nondisclosure agreements, and breaking the...

Kathleen Peratis is a partner at the New York law firm Outten & Golden LLP, where she chairs the firm’s sexual harassment practice group. She was formerly the director of the Women’s Rights Project of the ACLU.

Gretchen Carlson got something out of her settlement with Roger Ailes that most women who make such a claim against a powerful man don’t obtain. Not the money — although the $20 million to be paid to the former Fox News Channel host is indeed eye-popping. Most women who bring successful sexual harassment claims do...

Office romances are more accepted than ever in the workplace — except at the very top.

While studies show that more co-workers are mixing business and pleasure, companies are increasingly taking a zero tolerance approach to any high-level hanky-panky for fear of legal retaliation, damage to office morale and other problems.

Just this week, Lincoln Center confirmed it had booted Jed Bernstein as president after an anonymous complaint revealed he had dated and twice promoted an underling. It didn’t matter that his sexual relationship with the woman was consensual, both parties...

Black women working at Con Edison are fighting a shameful power shortage, a new lawsuit charges.

A highly regarded African-American Con Ed worker who was the first woman to become a line constructor — a worker who fixes utility poles — has sued the company, alleging an old boys club has kept her from being promoted.

Monica Harwell, 53, says she’s unsuccessfully applied for over 50 promotions since 2000 despite earning an associate’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in organizational leadership, among other degrees.

“They’ve always said, ‘This is the...

One day last May, while receiving an award, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court was asked to give advice to her younger female admirers.

It’s a question that she has been asked many times, more often these days, as legions of young women have chosen the octogenarian as their quiet-voiced but steel-spined icon. That day onstage, I listened as she seemed to think for a particularly long time before answering.

“My advice is fight for the things that you care about,” Justice Ginsburg said. Fair enough — banal enough, really. Then she added, “But do it in a way that...

Con Edison has quietly settled a huge sexual harassment lawsuit by agreeing to set aside $3.8 million for up to 300 women employees.

The settlement was reached with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of female field workers who say they’ve been subjected to harassment, passed over for promotion or paid less than less qualified male workers.

“This case should send a clear message to employers across New York state: All women — especially those working in male-dominated workplaces — deserve respect and equal...