Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said on Friday that his company has identified three women bound by non-disclosure agreements regarding his past conduct and that they would be released from their accords if they choose.
In a statement, Bloomberg, who runs media conglomerate Bloomberg LP, said the agreements concern âcomments they said I had made,â and that the women should contact his company for a release.
The agreements have been a source of fierce criticism from rival candidate U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called on Bloomberg to release the women from the agreements during the presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday and again at a televised town hall on Thursday, saying she had drawn up a ârelease and covenantâ that the former New York City mayor could use.
âThatâs just not good enough,â Warren told reporters while campaigning in Las Vegas on Friday.
âMichael Bloomberg needs to do a blanket release so that all women who have been muzzled by non-disclosure agreements can step up and tell their side of the story in terms of what Michael Bloomberg has done,â she said.
When challenged by Warren at the debate, Bloomberg had said of the non-disclosure agreements: âNone of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didnât like a joke I told.â
Bloomberg also said on Friday that he was ending the companyâs long-standing practice of requiring such confidentiality agreements when settlements are reached with employee complaints related to sexual harassment.
âIâve done a lot of reflecting on this issue over the past few days, and Iâve decided that for as long as Iâm running the company, we wonât offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward,â he said.
The agreements, Bloomberg said, âpromote a culture of silence in the workplace and contribute to a culture of women not feeling safe or supported.â
The campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, who joined Warrenâs calls to release the women from the agreements during Wednesdayâs debate, said Bloombergâs pledge âessentially tells the public nothing.â
âHorror stories abound in the public record about the culture at Bloomberg LP under Mayor Bloombergâs leadership,â Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.
âWe donât know how many women signed these NDAs, what percentage of NDAs this represents, or what categories of signed NDAs exist that are excluded,â she added.
(Reporting by Amanda Becker in Washington and Simon Lewis in Las Vegas; Additional reporting by Jim Oliphant in Washington and Tim Reid in Las Vegas; Editing by Sandra Maler, Will Dunham and Daniel Wallis)
