Every business has confidential data or processes that give it advantages over its competitors. These include customer lists that were crafted with a lot of work and expense, special pricing formulas, product designs codes or systems, or any other inventions. The law protects businesses by making these processes or documents private to ensure that competitors don’t have easy access to them.
In addition to these kinds of documents There are also a variety www.dataroombusiness.com of administrative records that have to be kept private. This could include desk layouts, seating plans and internal procedures. Additionally, there could be confidential customer information such as sales numbers or other confidential information received from vendors. There could also be personal info on employees such as tax forms, pay stubs and other payroll data.
A nondisclosure contract is the best method of protecting confidential company documents. But, you must be extremely careful when writing the agreement and defining what information is confidential. Be precise so that you don’t stop former or current employees from later claiming they did not know that the information was protected under confidentiality policies.
Be specific about the duration of the nondisclosure agreement. It’s not enforceable if the period of protection is longer than is reasonable to safeguard the company’s legitimate or “protectable” interests. Generally, the courts will take into consideration the circumstances and determine what is reasonable. If you are concerned about a particular employee, you might consider offering the promise of a raise or a promotion in exchange for signing the agreement. This may be enough consideration to overcome any accusations that you did not know the document was confidential.