A problem managers didn’t have to deal with 10 years ago was social media — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, personal websites and a thousand other “virtual water coolers” people gather around. Disgruntled employees can create revenge websites to hurt your business. Careless chat room conversations can divulge important information.
In the old days, when we talked about trade secrets and confidentiality agreements, we were usually talking about product specs and customer databases, usually taken from files when an employee was let go.
With the advent of social media, the problems of keeping mission-critical information within company walls are much more difficult, for two reasons:
- Businesses need to keep key information private. In the current era, information is every company’s most precious asset. You must not let it get out, where competitors will snap it up.
- Workers have the right to affiliate online, but they have no right to cause you harm. Employees’ freedom of speech is not what employees sometimes imagine, but it must still be honored.
Freedom does not extend to acts of sabotage. The trick is for Illinois businesses to create and enforce confidentiality policies that protect valuable information without impinging on employees’ rights.
Call in Cook County’s Non-Compete Agreement Attorney
At Lawrence M. Donoghue & Associates, P.C., confidentiality and trade secrets are an important focus. A tough policy that results in a freedom of speech lawsuit is not to your advantage. Our lawyers are adept at creating and communicating policies. We are also adept at enforcing them, through litigation or negotiation.
We Fashion Sound Employee Non-Disclosure Agreements
We work to protect your company’s trade secrets, and to enforce fair non-compete agreements for your workforce, as well as non-solicitation agreements, non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements.
It is important for employees to remember that this is a legal issue, not just another HR rule. Your business survives by controlling its knowledge base. Your employees have no right to squander this precious asset.
We create policies and responses that prevent and contain damage caused by leaks. Call Northbrook confidentiality and trade secret dispute attorney Lawrence M. Donoghue at 800-303-4492. Or e-mail him using this convenient form.