Latest news with #CarolineWalker
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Lawyers Warn UK NDA Ban May Reduce Misconduct Settlement Payouts
A landmark ban on the use of non-disclosure agreements in workplace misconduct cases - a longstanding practice of financial firms - may make it harder for victims to win compensation and discourage some from speaking up, lawyers say. Under reforms to workers' rights laws by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government due to come into effect later this year, any confidentiality agreements that seek to silence employees who say they faced harassment and discrimination would be null and void. But lawyers say the ban risks unintended consequences: employers are less motivated to settle discrimination cases without confidentiality, leading to greater backlogs for the employee tribunal system and prolonged legal processes for victims seeking closure. This could mean that fewer victims come forward to detail their experiences, according to Caroline Walker, managing director at Cavendish Employment Law. 'Tribunal claims are not for the faint hearted,' she said, referring to the courts where workers and employers head to fight their disputes. 'They are time consuming, costly and cross examination over sensitive discrimination or harassment incidents can be brutal.' There's a risk too that companies try to bury victims in a legal quagmire, she said, with companies more determined to defend their reputation in court in the absence of a confidentiality agreement. In the case of fewer settlements, lengthier legal processes could also pile pressure on an already overwhelmed UK employee tribunal system, Walker said. The backlog had reached almost 50,000 cases by the end of last year, an increase of 28% compared with a year earlier. 'This could result in employees having to commit to litigation in difficult circumstances, when they may otherwise have received a settlement, allowing them to move on more quickly,' Bethan Jones, an employment lawyer at Spencer West, said. The use of NDAs for cases involving allegations of workplace abuse is widespread; 22% of respondents to a 2024 survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said their company used them when dealing with allegations of sexual harassment. The ban marks a shift in policy for the UK after the previous Conservative government rejected calls last year to end their use and comes after a series of high-profile sexual harassment scandals in recent years, including allegations against hedge fund manager Crispin Odey. Odey has denied the allegations. 'There is commercial and reputational value to the employer in settling with confidentiality irrespective of the merit or otherwise of the allegation,' Jason Braier, a trial lawyer specializing in employment, said in a LinkedIn post. 'The government amendment will disincentivise employers from settling many claims they think they can defend.' But proponents of the ban say the risks are unfounded and note that the new law will reverse the power dynamics, with victims, not companies, able to request confidentiality. 'The whole thing with NDAs is that they are a piece of power, and when you are an employee the power disparity is so huge,' said Zelda Perkins, the whisteblower at the heart of the Weinstein scandal. 'People I've been fighting against baulk at that word power but really it's about equality and leveling the playing field.' And Georgina Calvert-Lee, at Bellevue Law, said the ban simply aligns the UK with other countries where legislation has already changed, including Ireland and several US states. The experience there suggests that a ban has been effective; US research in 2019 showed that, after the introduction of the bans, filings for sexual harassment increased and the settlement rate for those cases rose by nearly 10%. A former employee at Citigroup Inc. who asked not to be named because they signed an NDA after they sued the bank told Bloomberg that victims are often pressured to sign confidentiality agreements by their bosses and hopes this could mark a positive change. They said that City of London firms frequently abuse NDAs and use them to perpetuate toxic corporate cultures. A Citi spokesperson declined to comment. Currently, NDAs can often have a far-reaching impact, with some requiring that victims are unable to speak to anyone, even medical professionals, about their experience. Those who sign such documents also often don't receive legal guidance and are unaware that they can still pursue a criminal case through the police. The reforms would change that. 'You can use confidentiality when it's being used ethically and not abusively,' said Perkins. 'This is really taking the ability to abuse that tool out of the hands of employers.' With assistance from Jonathan Browning. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Lawyers warn UK NDA ban may reduce misconduct settlement payouts
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The provision would void existing NDAs used by businesses to silence employees who were subject to sexual harassment or discrimination. A landmark ban on the use of non-disclosure agreements in workplace misconduct cases - a longstanding practice of financial firms - may make it harder for victims to win compensation and discourage some from speaking up, lawyers say. Under reforms to workers' rights laws by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government due to come into effect later in 2025 , any confidentiality agreements that seek to silence employees who say they faced harassment and discrimination would be null and void. But lawyers say the ban risks unintended consequences: employers are less motivated to settle discrimination cases without confidentiality, leading to greater backlogs for the employee tribunal system and prolonged legal processes for victims seeking closure. This could mean that fewer victims come forward to detail their experiences, according to Ms Caroline Walker, managing director at Cavendish Employment Law. 'Tribunal claims are not for the faint-hearted,' she said, referring to the courts where workers and employers head to fight their disputes. 'They are time consuming, costly and cross-examination over sensitive discrimination or harassment incidents can be brutal.' There's a risk too that companies try to bury victims in a legal quagmire, she said, with companies more determined to defend their reputation in court in the absence of a confidentiality agreement. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia Air India crash report shows pilot confusion over engine switch movement Singapore More NSFs may be recruited to tackle scams: Police Singapore $3 cashback for hawker centre meals and shopping at heartland malls with DBS PayLah initiative Singapore 40% more sign-ups to programmes for adult learners at institutes of higher learning in last 5 years Singapore Exhibition marking The Straits Times' 180th anniversary opens on July 12 at Jewel Changi Multimedia Which floor is this? Chongqing's maze-like environment powers its rise as a megacity Singapore Over 20 motorists caught offering illegal ride-hailing services at Changi Airport and Gardens by the Bay Life SG60 F&B icons: 20 dishes and drinks which have shaped Singaporeans' taste buds In the case of fewer settlements, lengthier legal processes could also pile pressure on an already overwhelmed UK employee tribunal system, Ms Walker said. The backlog had reached almost 50,000 cases by the end of 2024 , an increase of 28 per cent compared with a year earlier. 'This could result in employees having to commit to litigation in difficult circumstances, when they may otherwise have received a settlement, allowing them to move on more quickly,' Ms Bethan Jones, an employment lawyer at Spencer West, said. The use of NDAs for cases involving allegations of workplace abuse is widespread; 22 per cent of respondents to a 2024 survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said their company used them when dealing with allegations of sexual harassment. The ban marks a shift in policy for Britain after the previous Conservative government rejected calls in 2024 to end their use and comes after a series of high-profile sexual harassment scandals in recent years, including allegations against hedge fund manager, Crispin Odey, who has denied the allegations. 'There is commercial and reputational value to the employer in settling with confidentiality irrespective of the merit or otherwise of the allegation,' Mr Jason Braier, a trial lawyer specialising in employment, said in a LinkedIn post. 'The government amendment will disincentivise employers from settling many claims they think they can defend.' But proponents of the ban say the risks are unfounded and note that the new law will reverse the power dynamics, with victims, not companies, able to request confidentiality. 'The whole thing with NDAs is that they are a piece of power, and when you are an employee the power disparity is so huge,' said Ms Zelda Perkins, the whisteblower at the heart of the Weinstein scandal. 'People I've been fighting against baulk at that word power but really it's about equality and leveling the playing field.' And Ms Georgina Calvert-Lee, at Bellevue Law, said the ban simply aligns the UK with other countries where legislation has already changed, including Ireland and several US states. The experience there suggests that a ban has been effective; US research in 2019 showed that, after the introduction of the bans, filings for sexual harassment increased and the settlement rate for those cases rose by nearly 10 per cent. A former employee at Citigroup Inc. who asked not to be named because they signed an NDA after they sued the bank told Bloomberg that victims are often pressured to sign confidentiality agreements by their bosses and hopes this could mark a positive change. They said that City of London firms frequently abuse NDAs and use them to perpetuate toxic corporate cultures. A Citi spokesperson declined to comment. Currently, NDAs can often have a far-reaching impact, with some requiring that victims are unable to speak to anyone, even medical professionals, about their experience. Those who sign such documents also often don't receive legal guidance and are unaware that they can still pursue a criminal case through the police. The reforms would change that. 'You can use confidentiality when it's being used ethically and not abusively,' said Ms Perkins. 'This is really taking the ability to abuse that tool out of the hands of employers.' BLOOMBERG
CNN
27-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- CNN
How motherhood is being reframed in art
In Caroline Walker's 2022 painting 'Bottles and Pumps', various breastfeeding paraphernalia lies drying on a white tray. 'That's been an interesting one, in terms of how people have responded,' she wrote to CNN over email, relaying the painting's reception as part of 'Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood', a touring group show curated by art critic Hettie Judah. 'It was the painting men responded to most when it was first shown (at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London), with (their) memories of bottle feeds or being tasked with cleaning and sterilizing the apparatus in those strange first months with a new baby,' said Walker. The work was initially produced as part of 'Lisa', a series of paintings capturing Walker's sister-in-law in the weeks immediately before, and three months after, giving birth. At The Hepworth Wakefield gallery in the north of England, pieces from 'Lisa' join other artworks by the Scottish artist in a major new solo show, titled 'Mothering,' in an intimate survey of early motherhood and the extended support network that helps new mothers navigate the experience — from midwives and cleaners, to grandmothers and childcare workers. The show includes work made during Walker's 2021 artist's residency at a London hospital maternity ward ('Birth Reflections') and depicting her young daughter's nursery ('Nurture'). ''Mothering' felt like an expansive title that could describe acts of care, which weren't limited to the relationship between biological mother and child, reflecting the wide range of people who become part of our lives in the early years of childhood,' shared Walker, reflecting on the deliberate reframing of how motherhood is characterized and tethering it to the socio-economic structures of labor she has previously studied. 'I liked that the term is a verb describing the act of providing care and nurture, rather than a specific identity or fixed relationship.' The theme of motherhood has been a core focus for artists for centuries, though it is often with men in the role of the author, rendering scenes they only know secondhand. See Gustav Klimt's 'The Three Ages of Women', or Caravaggio's controversial 'Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri)' — indeed, the many depictions of the Madonna and Child make it perhaps the most widely celebrated and frequently circulated image in the genre of mother and children in art. For Walker however, it wasn't always an obvious subject matter. 'Motherhood wasn't a preoccupation for me, so I wasn't looking for it in the world around me,' she said. 'I've always been drawn to images of women in painting. Some of course were depictions of motherhood, but it wasn't something I was especially drawn to.' 'My work is very routed in a Western painting tradition and frequently references, directly and indirectly, specific genres,' Walker continued, 'but I try to approach these through a contemporary female lens, asking if the perspective of a woman artist can add something different.' In Walker's own research, she found a sense of commonality in the work of Impressionist painters Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot; 'The Wet Nurse Angele Feeding Julie Manet', made by Morisot in 1880, in particular shares a dialogue with her own perspective. 'The relationship of exchange that's at play in the painting really interests me. Morisot is paying another woman to nurture her child, so she can work and make that exchange the subject of the work itself,' Walker explained, referencing the balancing act that has commonly been an obstacle for women who are parents, especially working-class individuals and those from marginalized communities, generally and also within creative industries, where income is typically less stable. 'I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between paid and unpaid care and the transactional nature of nurseries and paid childcare, a service we rely on as a society and which I myself utilize.' 'Mothering' then, in title and content, stretches the typical narrative and asks the viewer to revise how we might imagine motherhood to be presented creatively, building on the vast visual library constructed by women artists over the last century. Louise Bourgeois for example, whose 'Maman' sculpture recently returned to London's Tate Modern, frequently interrogated ideas about motherhood and maternity in her work, while Alice Neel often painted mothers and their children informed, in some part, by her own understanding of the relationship (in an early piece from 1930, she fused her own story with the Virgin Mary's, producing 'Degenerate Madonna'). In photography too, these roles and the associated rituals have regularly been a vehicle for expression, from Carrie Mae Weems's 'Kitchen Table Series', featuring a mother and daughter make-up session, to Rineke Dijkstra's 'New Mothers', wherein the photographer documented women and their hours-old newborns. In 2020, the American photographer Maggie Shannon began accompanying midwives on home visits for what would become 'Extreme Pain, Extreme Joy', an echo of Walker's hospital residency. And in 2023, Andi Galdi Vinko's 'Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I'm Back', a confronting but ultimately warm account of the first years of motherhood, won the UK's Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Photography Book Award. While hardly a new arena, in 2025 it seems there is a considerable effort, as part of a wider campaign of awareness and correction, to foreground these artists, just as women artists more broadly have begun to receive their flowers. The volume of interest in Walker's work is a prime example of this. In addition to 'Mothering', her paintings are currently on display in three group shows: the Scottish leg of 'Acts of Creation' at Dundee Contemporary Arts, 'Good Mom/Bad Mom' at Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and at Dussedorf's Kunstpalast in 'MAMA: From Mary to Merkel'. I liked that the term is a verb describing the act of providing care and nurture, rather than a specific identity or fixed relationship. Artist Caroline Walker In 'Mothering: The Family Reborn', the closing chapter of a Thames & Hudson publication that accompanies Judah's 'Acts of Creation' exhibition, the critic celebrates the notion of mothering as perceived by queer artists, oftentimes in a political context, exploring how 'committing to networks of care' and a broader sense of shared responsibility has previously been, and has the potential to, further comprise modern iterations of motherhood. Here, she references artists such as Sadie Lune, Zanele Muholi and Cathy Cade. In Walker's case, the term mothering arrived via a member of the team at her daughter's nursery, who explained that it was a key part of their training. Subsequently, Walker said she began reflecting on 'the constellation of women that are part of my children's care and education, performing vital work and informing a period of a child's life, which research has shown is important to their development throughout childhood and beyond.' 'I had been exploring the subject of women's working lives for a few years but becoming a mother really opened my eyes to this whole area of women's labor in relation to the bearing and rearing of children,' Walker continued. 'Women artists have been responding to the demands of motherhood for decades but haven't always enjoyed the same exposure or validation. If I was making this work 10 years ago, I don't think it would be getting so much traction.'
CNN
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
How motherhood is being reframed in art
In Caroline Walker's 2022 painting 'Bottles and Pumps', various breastfeeding paraphernalia lies drying on a white tray. 'That's been an interesting one, in terms of how people have responded,' she wrote to CNN over email, relaying the painting's reception as part of 'Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood', a touring group show curated by art critic Hettie Judah. 'It was the painting men responded to most when it was first shown (at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London), with (their) memories of bottle feeds or being tasked with cleaning and sterilizing the apparatus in those strange first months with a new baby,' said Walker. The work was initially produced as part of 'Lisa', a series of paintings capturing Walker's sister-in-law in the weeks immediately before, and three months after, giving birth. At The Hepworth Wakefield gallery in the north of England, pieces from 'Lisa' join other artworks by the Scottish artist in a major new solo show, titled 'Mothering,' in an intimate survey of early motherhood and the extended support network that helps new mothers navigate the experience — from midwives and cleaners, to grandmothers and childcare workers. The show includes work made during Walker's 2021 artist's residency at a London hospital maternity ward ('Birth Reflections') and depicting her young daughter's nursery ('Nurture'). ''Mothering' felt like an expansive title that could describe acts of care, which weren't limited to the relationship between biological mother and child, reflecting the wide range of people who become part of our lives in the early years of childhood,' shared Walker, reflecting on the deliberate reframing of how motherhood is characterized and tethering it to the socio-economic structures of labor she has previously studied. 'I liked that the term is a verb describing the act of providing care and nurture, rather than a specific identity or fixed relationship.' The theme of motherhood has been a core focus for artists for centuries, though it is often with men in the role of the author, rendering scenes they only know secondhand. See Gustav Klimt's 'The Three Ages of Women', or Caravaggio's controversial 'Madonna and Child with St. Anne (Dei Palafrenieri)' — indeed, the many depictions of the Madonna and Child make it perhaps the most widely celebrated and frequently circulated image in the genre of mother and children in art. For Walker however, it wasn't always an obvious subject matter. 'Motherhood wasn't a preoccupation for me, so I wasn't looking for it in the world around me,' she said. 'I've always been drawn to images of women in painting. Some of course were depictions of motherhood, but it wasn't something I was especially drawn to.' 'My work is very routed in a Western painting tradition and frequently references, directly and indirectly, specific genres,' Walker continued, 'but I try to approach these through a contemporary female lens, asking if the perspective of a woman artist can add something different.' In Walker's own research, she found a sense of commonality in the work of Impressionist painters Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot; 'The Wet Nurse Angele Feeding Julie Manet', made by Morisot in 1880, in particular shares a dialogue with her own perspective. 'The relationship of exchange that's at play in the painting really interests me. Morisot is paying another woman to nurture her child, so she can work and make that exchange the subject of the work itself,' Walker explained, referencing the balancing act that has commonly been an obstacle for women who are parents, especially working-class individuals and those from marginalized communities, generally and also within creative industries, where income is typically less stable. 'I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between paid and unpaid care and the transactional nature of nurseries and paid childcare, a service we rely on as a society and which I myself utilize.' 'Mothering' then, in title and content, stretches the typical narrative and asks the viewer to revise how we might imagine motherhood to be presented creatively, building on the vast visual library constructed by women artists over the last century. Louise Bourgeois for example, whose 'Maman' sculpture recently returned to London's Tate Modern, frequently interrogated ideas about motherhood and maternity in her work, while Alice Neel often painted mothers and their children informed, in some part, by her own understanding of the relationship (in an early piece from 1930, she fused her own story with the Virgin Mary's, producing 'Degenerate Madonna'). In photography too, these roles and the associated rituals have regularly been a vehicle for expression, from Carrie Mae Weems's 'Kitchen Table Series', featuring a mother and daughter make-up session, to Rineke Dijkstra's 'New Mothers', wherein the photographer documented women and their hours-old newborns. In 2020, the American photographer Maggie Shannon began accompanying midwives on home visits for what would become 'Extreme Pain, Extreme Joy', an echo of Walker's hospital residency. And in 2023, Andi Galdi Vinko's 'Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I'm Back', a confronting but ultimately warm account of the first years of motherhood, won the UK's Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Photography Book Award. While hardly a new arena, in 2025 it seems there is a considerable effort, as part of a wider campaign of awareness and correction, to foreground these artists, just as women artists more broadly have begun to receive their flowers. The volume of interest in Walker's work is a prime example of this. In addition to 'Mothering', her paintings are currently on display in three group shows: the Scottish leg of 'Acts of Creation' at Dundee Contemporary Arts, 'Good Mom/Bad Mom' at Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and at Dussedorf's Kunstpalast in 'MAMA: From Mary to Merkel'. I liked that the term is a verb describing the act of providing care and nurture, rather than a specific identity or fixed relationship. Artist Caroline Walker In 'Mothering: The Family Reborn', the closing chapter of a Thames & Hudson publication that accompanies Judah's 'Acts of Creation' exhibition, the critic celebrates the notion of mothering as perceived by queer artists, oftentimes in a political context, exploring how 'committing to networks of care' and a broader sense of shared responsibility has previously been, and has the potential to, further comprise modern iterations of motherhood. Here, she references artists such as Sadie Lune, Zanele Muholi and Cathy Cade. In Walker's case, the term mothering arrived via a member of the team at her daughter's nursery, who explained that it was a key part of their training. Subsequently, Walker said she began reflecting on 'the constellation of women that are part of my children's care and education, performing vital work and informing a period of a child's life, which research has shown is important to their development throughout childhood and beyond.' 'I had been exploring the subject of women's working lives for a few years but becoming a mother really opened my eyes to this whole area of women's labor in relation to the bearing and rearing of children,' Walker continued. 'Women artists have been responding to the demands of motherhood for decades but haven't always enjoyed the same exposure or validation. If I was making this work 10 years ago, I don't think it would be getting so much traction.'
The Courier
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Fife artist Caroline Walker's work joins Tracey Emin's in DCA's 'On Art and Motherhood' exhibition
Fife artist Caroline Walker's take on art and motherhood comes to DCA, sitting alongside work by Tracey Emin. DCA's current show arrives as a coup for the Dundee-based arts centre. From London's Hayward Gallery, Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood includes major names such as Margate, Kent's Tracey Emin and Portuguese painter Paula Rego. Another featured artist, though, hails from Courier Country. Born and raised in Dunfermline, Caroline Walker made her name in London. She has since returned to Fife's south coast – taking on a derelict 18th century steading north of Inverkeithing. Having lived down south for 14 years, in 2022 Caroline moved back with her architect husband to seek more space for work and their growing family. 'We had quite a good set up, but my studio and our flat were all very small,' she explains. 'We had one child, wanted to have another one and the opportunity to do a building project up here seemed something that wouldn't be available in London. 'My career was established enough that I didn't have to be there all the time and I suppose we wanted family support for our young children.' Anyone familiar with Caroline's success may already be familiar with her family members. Care and female labour, both paid and unpaid, have become important inspirations. Her children, Daphne, aged two, and five-year-old Laurie often appear, as does the artist's mum Janet. Caroline attended Queen Anne High School, Dunfermline, before Glasgow School of Art and London's Royal College of Art. She fondly remembers how Janet encouraged her creativity. 'From an early age I was crazy about drawing, while I have lots of memories of mum taking me to Kirkcaldy Galleries and the National Galleries [of Scotland, Edinburgh],' she says. 'She got me some oil paints when I was 12 and that was quite exciting.' With those first pigments, Caroline copied images of what she fondly calls 'fancy ladies', the captivating subjects of historical portraits by painters such as Gainsborough, the Scottish Colourists and Glasgow Boys. While her subject matter has developed, the artist has stayed with a medium seen as unfashionable when she arrived at Glasgow in 2000, though later came back in to vogue. 'When I started art school, nobody was painting, apart from maybe a couple who'd be totally abstract,' Caroline says. 'I definitely didn't feel like one of the stars of the year. Though by the time I graduated, painting was having a bit of a moment.' While artists such as the Belgian Luc Tuymans showed paint could still be relevant, Caroline was sticking to her guns, she reveals: 'I like how immediate paint is: you want to put a mark down and there it is. You can quickly describe the world around you.' Later on, while studying for an MA in London, Caroline began to find her calling by thinking back to those 'fancy ladies'. She explains: 'Almost all those historical paintings l'd enjoyed were painted by men. 'That was the start of me more consciously deciding to make work about women's lives and what I could bring to that.' Since then, Caroline has presented several series on women in the workplace – including one on the Little Bugs nursery, Dunfermline, that her daughter attended. Some proceeds from sales of those works paid for an art studio she opened there in November. Her homemaker mother – now a cherished grandparent – became the subject of a 2020 show at Edinburgh's Ingleby Gallery. Her still life of feeding bottles in the DCA comes from a series made about her sister-in-law Lisa, while this spring Caroline has earned a prestigious retrospective exhibition at The Hepworth in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. This includes a documentary about her also to be shown at DCA alongside a Q&A with the artist. Being filmed over three years has been an awkward, though rewarding, experience, Caroline admits. 'Watching the rough cuts felt overwhelming,' she says. 'They captured the most intense period of my life. 'My career has really taken off, but we've been through pregnancy and this big building project. I think there's a connection between motherhood as a subject and the circumstances in which I was making the work.' Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood runs at DCA until July 13, Caroline Walker: Women's Work film and Q&A July 3.
