Compromise Agreement Solicitors & Lawyers » Breach of Confidential Information

Employment Law, Compromise Agreements, Confidentiality, Employment Contract, Post-termination

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:01:47 +0000

Employees must at all times remember that there are confidentiality terms in their employment contracts. Post-termination of employment, employees will still be bound by the confidentiality provisions in their employment contracts as well as the confidentiality provisions in their compromise agreements.

If you require further information about redundancy law, please contact us at enquiries@rtcooperssolicitors.com or visit one of the following pages on employment law:

© RT COOPERS, 2011. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

Post-termination Provisions in Employment Contracts, Compromise Agreement

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:41:08 +0000

Even when an employee is signing a compromise agreement, the employee should always refer to the post-termination provisions in the employee’s employment contract. If in doubt seek advice on employment law.

If you require further information please contact us at enquiries@rtcooperssolicitors.com or visit one of the following pages on employment law:

Employment Law, Confidentiality, Trade Secrets, Redundancy Payment

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:45:23 +0000

Employees sometimes do not realise the importance of the need to keep the business affairs, trade secrets, marketing information and financial information about their employers confidential, especially post-termination. A breach of a compromise agreement may result in the employee having to repay the redundancy payment.

If you require further information please contact us at enquiries@rtcooperssolicitors.com or visit one of the following pages on employment law:

Compromise Agreement, Redundancy, Employment Law, Negotiating Terms

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:33:15 +0000

Following our entry below, we have found that those working within creative industries where prospective employers would need to see examples of previous work, may wish to agree with current employers a list of projects they are able to keep as part of their portfolio.

As below, this can conflict with your confidentiality obligations.

This needs to be negotiated into the terms of your compromise agreement. Be sure to allow for, e.g. the display of such work on your personal websites and that you retain copies of documents relating to the work.

If you require further information please contact us at enquiries@rtcooperssolicitors.com or visit one of the following pages on employment law:

Compromise Agreement, Redundancy, Employment Law, Negotiating Terms, Restricted Clients

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:33:45 +0000

It is highly advisable that senior executives of companies facing redundancy agree a list of ‘restricted clients’ with their employers wherever possible, when negotiating the terms of their compromise agreements. This list should contain clients that the employees have had direct dealings with. It therefore makes it easier for such senior executives to know which clients are out of bounds as typically there would be a restricted period of anything from 3 – 12 months during which the executives cannot poach/entice such restricted clients. This is a very contentious area and executives if in doubt must take legal advice.

The point is that any disclosure by an executive of details of clients otherwise would amount to a breach of the compromise agreement by the employee and any continuing confidentiality provisions in the employee’s employment contract. The solution is thus to agree a list of ‘restricted clients’ within the terms of the compromise agreement. This would give the employee a clear indication of those clients that fall within the post-termination provisions.

Top 10 Typical Work Law Issues Where Companies May Make Mistakes – Canada, Employment Law, Disabaility Discrimination

admin — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 11:34:12 +0000

Guest Writer on Employment Law Issues from Canada : Stacia Abner of labor law training

The contemporary American workplace is susceptible to numerous federal, state, and local law regulations that impose strict obligations on businesses (e.g., wage and hour laws and regulations, nondiscrimination law regulations, etc.). Many organisations, especially smaller businesses, tend not to completely understand the scope of such obligations and, because of this, frequently (albeit inadvertently) violate what the law states. These violations can result in costly lawsuits, and also civil and criminal penalties.

In my experience as being a defence attorney in addition to being a plaintiff’s lawyer, the commonest employment law mistakes done by businesses are the subsequent (in no particular order):

Misclassifying personnel as independent contractors. Normally, only workers who operate their very own separate businesses are “independent contractors.” Few workers meet this test; the truth is, most personnel are considered “employees” for the law, which suggests these are eligible for the entire variety of workplace protections.
Misclassifying non-exempt workers as exempt. Generally speaking, all personnel are eligible to minimum wage and overtime pay, unless these are “exempt” under state and federal law. The exemption rules (e.g., for executive, administrative, and professional employees) only apply in limited circumstances, however; because of this, many personnel who’re claimed by businesses to become “exempt” in reality have entitlement to minimum wage and/or overtime pay.
Not complying with state wage payment legal guidelines. i.e. New York imposes several specific rules regarding how businesses be forced to pay their personnel. These rules include providing new workers with written notice of the rate of pay and regular pay date; prohibiting deductions from wages unless for that employee’s benefit and authorized in writing; requiring written contracts for commissioned salespersons; and providing terminated personnel with written notice of the last day’s work, their last day’s benefits, and their right to submit an application for unemployment benefits.
Not owning a worker handbook. A worker handbook is a crucial tool for effective employer-employee relations. It notifies employees of the company’s values, policies, and procedures; promotes compliance with labor and employment legal guidelines; so it helps create an orderly, efficient, and transparent workplace.
Not documenting personnel job performance. A well-managed business clearly communicates its employees’ duties and responsibilities (e.g., through written position descriptions), trains and supervises workers to be sure they are meeting these requirements, and offers regular, objective, consistent feedback (e.g., through written evaluations and, where necessary, disciplinary actions). A not enough accurate, complete, contemporaneous documentation can cause liability in case of a case by a worker.
Not training supervisors regarding EEO legal guidelines. Federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (EEO) law regulations prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against employees (e.g., demotion, termination) for reasons not associated with an employee’s job performance, including those according to an employee’s race, color, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and marital status ( to mention the most typical “protected characteristics”), along with retaliation for an employee’s good faith complaints of discrimination. It is imperative that supervisors learn the way to manage workers without violating (or appearing to violate) these legislation.
Not providing reasonable accommodations for disabled staff members. Most EEO legislation prohibit businesses from taking adverse actions against employees depending on certain protected characteristics, but disability discrimination legal guidelines also impose an affirmative obligation on businesses to “reasonably accommodate” disabled employees in order to assist them to perform the main functions of the jobs. Such accommodations might include restructuring job duties, modifying work schedules, or providing assistive devices. Businesses must supply a disabled laborer with needed accommodations unless this would cause an “undue hardship” for the company (e.g., not affordable, too disruptive).
Not obtaining releases from terminated personnel. When terminating a worker, businesses need to get a release that waives the employee’s potential legal claims against the company. The simplest way to get a release is in exchange for an offer of severance (where appropriate). Normally, companies are not necessary to pay for severance to personnel (unless necessary for an employment contract or possibly a collective bargaining agreement). If they plan to do this (e.g., in association with layoffs), they must require staff members to sign a release in return for the payment.
Not protecting confidential business information. Every enterprise depends upon certain vital, often confidential information regarding its business operations, including trade secrets, marketing and advertising practices, and customer and client lists. Access to this information ought to be limited by staff members with a “need to know” and really should be protected by appropriate non-disclosure, non-compete, and/or non-solicitation agreements (depending on the nature of the information as well as the employee’s position).
Not consulting a certified employment law attorney.

Perhaps the one most crucial point to take away from this discussion is businesses must consult a professional employment lawyer to ensure they are in compliance with all the increasingly numerous and complex laws and regulations that carpet work just like a minefield. Large businesses will often have attorneys and recruiting professionals working to aid them in this field. Small- and medium-size businesses often don’t. Their biggest mistake is attempting to navigate this minefield by themselves. And you also? Exactly what are your top mistakes made in employment law?

About the writer: Stacia Abner writes for labor law training , her personal blog where she writes about her experience as defense attorney to aid workers and organizations take care of the facets of employment law.

Compromise Agreements – Non Solicitation Clauses – Restrictive Covenants

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:49:42 +0000

Where employees are senior executives, employers are reinforcing the non solicitation clauses in the compromise agreement even though such clauses are already set out in the employee’s contract of employment.

A restrictive covenant in relation to other employees might state:-

The employee shall not at any time during the period of twelve months from the date of termination of your employment (twelve months is typical and enforceable):

either directly or indirectly, solicit or entice away or endeavour to solicit or entice away from the employer or any Group Company of the employer either on the employee’s behalf or on behalf of any other person, firm or corporation, any person employed by the employer or any Group Company of the employer at the termination date with whom the employee shall have had dealings in the course of the employee’s employment at any time in the period of twelve months preceding the employee’s termination date whether or not any such person would commit a breach of contract by reason of the person leaving the employer.

If you require further information please contact us at enquiries@rtcooperssolicitors.com or visit one of the following pages:

© RT COOPERS, 2010. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

What Reference Can you Expect? – Going Through Redundancy and Compromise Agreement- Redundancy Law

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:24:53 +0000

If you have been made redundant and have been asked to sign a compromise agreement, then your employer usually would provide you with a reference. Your employer in the future will be subject to the confidentiality provisions set out in your compromise agreement (which you both will sign), so if your employer receives any written reference requests for you, your employer will usually answer these factually and in line with its policy. In some cases that we are seeing, certain employers will provide the following details only in a reference:-

Your dates of employment
Your job title
Your department
Your salary
Your reason for leaving (which should be included in your offer letter and compromise agreement)

Breaching Confidentiality Provisions – Compromise Agreements

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:04:19 +0000

We discussed the fact that both an employee as well as an employer have to mantain confidentiality with regards to the confidentialty provisions in a compromise agreement. We are now going to look at what could happen if such provisions are breached by either party. In summary:

The party claiming breach would need to have proof of the breach. This is what its referred to as evidence.
Once proof is obtained/secured, then a letter before action should be sent to the party in breach.
If at the end of the requisite period given to the party in breach to respond (usually7 – 21 days), there is no resolution, the next stage is to bring proceedings in the court for breach of confidential information.
The aggrieved party has to make an assessment of damages.
Always ensuring that you obtain sound legal advice.

Breach of Confidential Information – Compromise Agreements

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:24:06 +0000

We have addressed the topic of confidentiality many times before. We are still finding that both employers and employees are at risk of breaching the confidentiality provisions in compromise agreements. For employers it is usually in relation to references. For employees they sometimes do not know what they are allowed to disclose to their new employers or to use in their new business ventures. Surely, as an employee you are more likely to use in your new business what you know best – but how did you obtain this information? We see employees trying to set up very similar websites to their past employers, your employmnent contract may not allow this.

You should be aware of the risk of breach of confidential information.