总裁俱乐部丑闻后续：女招待可以报警

The staffing agency that hired 130 hostesses to work at the notorious Presidents Club charity dinner last month has told the women they can disregard the confidentiality agreements they signed in order to report criminal behaviour to the police.

为上月举办的臭名昭著的总裁俱乐部(Presidents Club)慈善晚宴招募了130名女招待的劳务中介机构告诉这些女性，她们可以不用管她们签署的保密协议，向警方报告犯罪行为。

The hostesses were told by their agency, Artista, to sign the non-disclosure agreements on arrival at the Dorchester Hotel, where the charity dinner — which had an exclusively male guest list — has been held annually for the past 33 years.

这家叫做Artista的中介机构曾告诉这些女招待，她们一到多切斯特酒店(The Dorchester)就要签署保密协议。过去33年，总裁俱乐部的慈善晚宴每年都在这里举行，参加晚宴的嘉宾都是男性。

The women were given little time to read the agreements and were not provided with a copy of the documents, raising concerns among legal professionals that the agreements were used to intimidate female staff from reporting wrongdoing.

这些女招待几乎没有时间阅读这些协议，也没有拿到协议副本，这令法律专业人士担心，这些协议被用来恫吓这些女服务员不要报告非法行为。

A Financial Times investigation of the event found that many of the hostesses were sexually harassed, propositioned or groped by male attendees on the night. The Presidents Club charity closed down shortly after the FT published its investigation.

英国《金融时报》对该事件的调查发现，当晚，许多女招待遭到了男嘉宾的性骚扰、求欢或猥亵。在英国《金融时报》公布调查后不久，总裁俱乐部停止营业。

Caroline Dandridge, founder of Artista, emailed the women last week to advise them that they were free to report any criminal behaviour that took place to the police.

Artista创始人卡洛琳•丹德里奇(Caroline Dandridge)上周给这些女招待发去电子邮件，建议她们可以自由地向警方汇报任何发生过的犯罪行为。

She said: “The Presidents Club Charity have asked me to make it clear that if you wish to complain to either me or them or the police about any illegal or criminal behaviour, the deed of confidentiality you signed does not stop you doing that, which I am sure you all know.”

她表示：“总裁俱乐部慈善组织要求我向你们澄清，如果你们希望向我或他们或者警方投诉任何非法或犯罪行为，你们签署的保密协议不会阻止你们这么做，我肯定，你们都知道这一点。”

Max Winthrop, a partner at Short Richardson & Forth, the law firm, said Artista’s decision to tell the hostesses they could report a crime to the police several weeks after the event was akin to “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”.

Short Richardson & Forth律师事务所的合伙人麦克斯•温思罗普(Max Winthrop)表示，在事情发生几周后，Artista决定告诉这些女招待，她们可以向警方报告犯罪行为，这种做法无异于“亡羊补牢”。

He added: “It sounds as if [the use of NDAs] is a particular problem in the more precarious sectors of the economy — you are talking about vulnerable workers who can be intimidated in a way that workers who are better paid and can take advice are not.”

他补充说：“在较不安稳的行当中(使用保密协议)听起来像是一个特殊问题——你谈论的是弱势工人，他们可能被恫吓，而那些待遇更好且能获得建议的工人是不会受到这种恫吓的。”

Three days before the event took place, Ms Dandridge told the hostesses via email that they would sign an NDA on the night. The email stated: “Absolutely nothing must be discussed/disclosed before, during or after the event to anyone, your flatmates, boyfriends, work colleagues — ever.

在事件发生三天前，丹德里奇通过电子邮件告诉女招待，她们将在当晚签署一份保密协议。她在电子邮件中表示：“在活动举行之前、期间或之后绝对不能向任何人，你的室友、男朋友以及同事讨论和透露任何信息——永远不能。”

“Absolutely NO comments about this event on any social media. You will have signed an NDA. This is a legally binding document.”

“绝对不能在任何社交媒体上说起这一活动。你们将会签署一份保密协议。这是一份具有法律约束力的文件。”

Ms Dandridge did not respond to a request for comment on the move to release the hostesses from their agreements.

丹德里奇没有回应记者提出的就不再让女招待受保密协议约束置评的请求。

The Presidents Club guest list included 360 high-profile figures from politics, business and the entertainment industry, including Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative MP and minister for children and families, and Ocado boss Tim Steiner. One of the hosts was David Walliams, the comedian and children’s author.

总裁俱乐部嘉宾名单包括来自政界、商界和娱乐界的360位知名人士，其中包括保守党议员、儿童及家庭事务部长纳齐姆•扎哈维(Nadhim Zahawi)和Ocado老板蒂姆•施泰纳(Tim Steiner)。其中一位主持人是喜剧演员、儿童文学作家大卫•威廉姆斯(David Walliams)。

More than 100,000 people signed an online petition after the scandal calling on the government to reintroduce rules that protect employees from harassment from third parties such as clients or customers.

在丑闻发生后，超过10万人在网上签署了请愿书，呼吁政府恢复关于保护雇员不受客户或顾客等第三方骚扰的法规。

Section 40 of the Equality Act, which made employers liable for an employee being harassed by a third party, was repealed in 2013.

规定雇主应对雇员受第三方骚扰承担责任的《平等法》第40条(Section 40 of the Equality Act)于2013年被废止。

The petition stated that the current legal framework allowed “organisations like the Presidents Club [to] turn a blind eye to blatant sexual abuse because they aren’t culpable”.

请愿书中指出，目前的法律框架允许“像总裁俱乐部这样的组织对明目张胆的性骚扰视而不见，因为它们不必担责”。