There are many uses of an Employee Confidentiality Agreement, a standard business practice nowadays. It is advantageous if you have much data to protect or if you have to protect new developments in your business.
The goal of an Employee Confidentiality Agreement is to protect that information from reaching your company's competitors. Having your employees sign this agreement likely gives you peace of mind to carry on with your business with one less concern.
The most vital aspect of an Employee Confidentiality Agreement is to make it specific enough to be easily enforceable. A potential problem, in general, is if the scope of what's being protected is too broad. A court of law can strike out that and any unreasonable promises extracted.
Also, the term of the agreement must be set. It should specify if the employee is not to disclose certain information for some time or in perpetuity. You should also determine if it is necessary to abide by the agreement if the employee leaves the company and how long after that.
Depending on your state, an Employee Confidentiality Agreement may also be known as:
Any employer may decide to ask future or current employees to sign an Employee Confidentiality Agreement. It is standard practice in specific industries, for example, technology. A potential employee may decide against signing the agreement, for which the employer would have the right to withdraw the employment offer.
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If you are a business owner who is always hiring, it may be smart to ask your employees to sign an Employee Confidentiality Agreement. Instead of hiring a law firm or risking a mistake on your own, you can use a template to create your agreement.
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For an Employee Confidentiality Agreement to go into effect, both parties need to agree to the terms and sign the document. Notarization isn't necessary, but having a witness could be beneficial if there's ever a dispute in the future.
Both parties are entitled to have a physical copy of the signed Employee Confidentiality Agreement. The employer should keep the document with the rest of the employee records. As for the employee, they may want to keep the copy in a safe and secure location.
The consequences of not having an Employee Confidentiality Agreement may vary significantly. In most cases, the type of industry and the business model of the company may affect what will happen. Having trust in your employees might be sufficient when running a smaller business. But not having an Employee Confidentiality Agreement is likely to open your business to numerous vulnerabilities.
The reason why it is so important to specify the location of the signed agreement is that the relevant business laws may vary from state to state. It is preferable to be familiar with your state’s law regarding confidentiality agreements in general and how they are enforced before signing the agreement.
The specificities of what happens if an employee breaks the agreement are usually included in the agreement. An employer can be as detailed as desired as to what is to be expected as a consequence if the terms are broken. It could start with monetary penalties and termination and up, including litigation and a claim for the suffered damages.
To be on the safe side, some employers choose to hire a law firm to help them draft an Employee Confidentiality Agreement. Some of the wording for these contracts may be confusing to the uninitiated. Also, since you have to adjust the document according to the state law, you might need an expert's help to guide you through it.
If you don't want to spend resources on attorneys, you can create the Employee Confidentiality Agreement on your own. It is essential to avoid common mistakes like making the agreement too broad and potentially unenforceable. Make sure that all the legal names of the parties are correct before signing. Also, it is crucial to make sure the person signing the document has the authority as the company's representative. Otherwise, it might end up legally unenforceable.
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