If you’ve wondered how Hollywood megaproducer Harvey Weinstein was able to act like a disgusting pig for decades before he was reined in, I can sum the reason up for you in two words: nondisclosure agreement.

Employees at The Weinstein Co. signed legal paperwork agreeing not to talk about what happened at work. The silence extended to sexual assaults.

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A nondisclosure agreement is known in legal circles as an NDA. It was designed to protect trade secrets, like the design for the newest iPhone or the recipe for Popeye’s buttermilk biscuits. Now it’s being called into service to protect people who send dirty text messages, grope their employees, place threatening phone calls and tie their workers’ job security to sexual favors.

What’s disturbing to me is that government is imitating Hollywood by using nondisclosure agreements to silence victims who are sexually harassed on public property by public employees. You’re not allowed to know about the bad behavior even though your tax dollars often are used to pay settlements to the victims.

These agreements protect sexual predators and rob victims of their voice. Sometimes they’re signed as a condition of employment. Other times, they’re included as part of a legal settlement. The goal is clear: If something bad happens to you in the workplace, you’re not allowed to talk about it, regardless of whether you’re an intern, a secretary or a supervisor.

I’m filing a bill, the Stop Silencing Victims Act, to protect sexual harassment victims by prohibiting government employees — both federal and state — from hiding behind nondisclosure agreements. This is no country for creepy old men.

Sadly, sexual harassment is a problem across government.

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Gov. John Bel Edwards’ then-deputy chief of staff, Johnny Anderson, resigned in 2017 amid allegations that he groped an employee during a job interview, asked her to send him photos of herself naked, masturbated in her presence and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Because she needed her job, the employee stayed silent. When she finally spoke up, Anderson’s attorney criticized her for violating a portion of the settlement agreement that prohibited the parties from making “disparaging remarks” about one another.

It wasn’t the first time Anderson found himself at the wrong end of a sexual harassment complaint. In 2006, six employees at Southern University accused him of sexual harassment. At the time, he was working for then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco and chairing the Southern University Board of Supervisors.

These problems aren’t limited to Democrats. Last year, I called on a fellow Republican, Secretary of State Tom Schedler, to resign after he admitted to a sexual relationship with an employee. Tom crossed a line that he shouldn’t have.

As part of the settlement agreement, neither Tom nor the employee could talk about the case publicly.

Between 2010 and 2017, the state of Louisiana paid $5 million in legal expenses connected to sexual harassment claims against a multitude of employees. Dozens of those claims were within the University of Louisiana system and the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

There’s little clarity on how much the federal government is paying to settle sexual harassment claims. Under the No FEAR Act, federal agencies are supposed to provide data on discrimination allegations. However, the information usually lacks key details, including the amount spent on settlements.

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The No FEAR Act reports do indicate there’s a problem in the federal workplace. At the Department of Interior, for example, 8 percent of employees complained about sexual harassment.

I have no doubt that many sexual harassment victims agree to a nondisclosure agreement because they have little choice. They sign on the dotted line because they need money to restart their lives after fleeing a hostile work environment. They’re victimized yet again by being silenced into submission. Meanwhile, the vermin who harassed them are free to prey on someone else because there are only muffled whispers about what happened.

Nondisclosure agreements create a country of creepy old men. They protect sexual predators. It’s time to banish them from the government workplace.

John Kennedy is one of Louisiana's U.S. senators.