Kansas intern confidentiality rule: What happens in a lawmakers office stays there
TOPEKA - Interns in the Kansas Statehouse are required to sign a sweeping confidentiality agreement that employment law attorneys warn could have a chilling effect on their willingness to report harassment or illegal activity.
Anything that takes place or is said in a lawmaker’s office stays there, the document says, under threat of immediate termination.
Sneha Verma, 18, thought it seemed sketchy when she was asked to sign the three-paragraph agreement as part of her internship in the Kansas Legislature last year.
“It made me feel like there was like some very dark politics,” Verma said.
Caroline Cundiff, who also interned in the Legislature during the 2017 session, said having interns sign a confidentiality agreement “seems very questionable.”
“Just among all the scandals that have broken out and things like that, I don’t see the need to have interns sign a confidentiality agreement just for the offices,” Cundiff said.
The confidentiality agreement came to light through an open records request by The Kansas City Star as the Legislature tackles concerns about transparency, sexual harassment and the treatment of interns.
Employment law experts who reviewed the document at The Star’s request criticized it as a potential shield to discourage student interns from reporting sexual harassment. They also said it might violate the First Amendment.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article196934054.html#storylink=cpy
