Harry and Meghan are spilling the tea again! Unless you have been hiding under a rock or have been blissfully disconnected from celebrity news, you have likely been bombarded with wall-to-wall coverage of bombshell after bombshell about the British Royal Family from Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Here is a brief refresher of highlights of their departure from royal life and the fallout:
- January 20, 2020: Prince Harry and Meghan announce their intention to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and to split their time between North America and the United Kingdom.
- March 2020: The couple move to California.
- February 19, 2021: Prince Harry and Meghan confirm that they will not be returning to royal duties.
- March 7, 2021: CBS airs a television special, hosted by Oprah Winfrey, Oprah with Megan and Harry. In the special, the couple detail, among other things, Meghan's mental health struggles, abandonment by the Royal Family, the lack of support from the Family (including personal security), insensitive comments about their future children's skin color, and Prince Harry's estrangement from his brother and father.
- December 8, 2022: Netflix drops the first three episodes of their docuseries, Harry & Meghan. The docuseries repeats many of the same themes from their Oprah interview. It includes revelations related to the couple's safety concerns after their personal security was removed, the Royal Family's jealously of their popularity, and their opinions on the role race played in their treatment by the Royal Family.
- January 8, 2023: CBS airs Prince Harry's interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. He revealed his feelings about the Royal Family's unconscious bias, the Family's complicity in Meghan's pain and suffering, and his exclusion from the Family's travel plans just prior to Queen Elizabeth II's death.
- January 10, 2023: Prince Harry releases his memoir, Spare. It instantly becomes the fastest selling non-fiction book of all time, selling 1.4 million copies on day one. The following are among the countless tabloid-fodder worthy stories contained in the memoir: Prince William assaulting Prince Harry, Camilla, Queen Consort, leaking stories about Prince Harry and Prince William, and Prince Harry's brother and sister-in-law encouraging him to wear the infamous Nazi costume to a party in 2005.
Since the couple's press tour is far from over, we will just have to wait and see how this saga continues to unfold.
As if we didn't already know, it has become abundantly clear that this is no ordinary family! The Royal Family, a.k.a. the Firm, functions much more like a corporation than the average family. For example, average families typically do not include multiple press offices and formal resignations (who knew that was an option?!?). With that structure, comes the inevitable headache of handling the fallout of departing "employees'" negative feelings and comments about the corporation. Luckily, most employers do not have to worry about former employees giving globally televised interviews with the Oprah Winfrey or Anderson Cooper, creating documentaries, or writing bestselling memoirs about their negative opinions of the company. However, in the age of social media, every employee could potentially make negative comments about an employer that could reach an enormous audience and have a devastating impact on the company's reputation, sales, or very existence.
So what can an employer do to protect itself? Non-disparagement clauses are a useful tool that employers can use in a departing employee's separation agreements to ward off potential negative press. A non-disparagement clause can be used to prevent a former employee from making negative comments about the employer, its employees, its officers, its clients or customers, or its business or products. They can restrict the employee's conduct only or they can be mutual and apply to statements made by the employer as well. If the employer agrees to a mutual non-disparagement clause, it is important that the clause clearly define which employees would be subject to the clause, especially in large companies. Employers should consult an attorney to ensure that any non-disparagement clause complies with state and local laws which prohibit employers from requiring employees to keep the underlying facts of certain discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour, harassment, or assault claims confidential.
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