Employee confidentiality is an agreement between an employer and employee to not share proprietary information with anyone outside the company without permission. It can also include not sharing personal information found in personnel records. Violation can lead to termination and legal action.
Employee confidentiality is a term used to describe an agreement that exists between an employer and an employee. This agreement has to do with knowledge or information that is entrusted to the employee as part of his assigned duties, or any other proprietary data that the employee encounters as a result of working for a specific employer. With this type of commitment, the employee agrees not to share or discuss any type of data considered proprietary with anyone outside the company without the express permission of company officials authorized to do so. The term is also used to describe a similar agreement in which the employee agrees not to share salary or benefits information with other employees.
It is not unusual for text describing employee confidentiality terms to be included in the employment contract presented at the time of hiring the individual. Often, the exact verbiage is structured to comply with any law or regulation governing the use of proprietary knowledge acquired in the course of employment. This includes, but is not limited to, data such as customer lists, financial data obtained from the company’s accounting records, any information relating to the employer’s existing or pending patents, or any other data that the employer believes ownership information.
Failure to respect employee confidentiality can often lead to termination of employment. In situations where proprietary information is sold or otherwise provided to competitors, the employer often has the option to bring legal action against the former employee. This is especially true if the employer can provide evidence that they have suffered financial loss due to a breach of trust by the former employee.
A second type of employee confidentiality has to do with the agreement between the employer and the employee not to disclose personal information found in the employee’s personnel records. This includes data such as medical information, results of criminal background investigations, or even information regarding wages, salaries or benefits that have been extended to the employee. With this type of confidentiality agreement, both parties undertake not to disclose such data to others within the company structure without obtaining the express consent of the other party. This means that employees do not discuss their current salary or salary level, or the amount of a commission or bonus they have been provided, unless the employer determines that sharing of that information is permitted. In the event that a party is ordered by a court to disclose proprietary data as part of an ongoing criminal investigation or as testimony in a hearing, employee confidentiality is not considered to be violated and no action can be taken. of punitive action as a result of the party submitting to the direction of the court.
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