LABOUR LAW

No, an employee must keep confidential the information and trade secrets which he acquired knowledge of during the course of his employment and cannot divulge these to his new employer or the competitors of the former employer.

Yes, non-solicitation undertakings are recognised and upheld by the courts. These must be reasonable in regards to time, territory and type of employment for what is necessary for the protection of the legitimate interests of the employer.

Yes, non-competition undertakings are recognised and upheld by the courts. For non-competition undertakings given by employees these must be reasonable in regards to time, territory and type of employment for what is necessary to the protection of the legitimate interests of the employer. In other words, a lifetime and worldwide non-competition agreement may be struck down by the courts as being unreasonable. Generally a court will not uphold a non-competition undertaking given by an employee if in so doing the employee is unreasonably prevented from earning a living. In the case of non-competition given in other circumstances such as the sale of a business, the courts will be more flexible insofar as the signatory is not unreasonably prevented from earning a living.

A confidentiality agreement is signed with employees, prospective business partners or representatives. Its purpose is to identify what information may be confidential, what the signatory may do with this information and the consequences of divulging this information. A confidentiality agreement is a very important legal document and should be entered into with all employees and whenever trade secrets or confidential information will be divulged to third parties.

Unless an employee is terminated with cause, an employer must give an employee sufficient notice of the termination of employment. The delay can be fixed by law or contractually. The delay also varies depending on the length of employment, the age of the employee, the nature of his employment and the ease for the employee to find another job. Generally, an employer can ask the employee to work for the duration of the notice period.

Yes, insofar as this arrangement does not contravene the provisions of the Labour Standards Act. Many provisions of the Labour Standards Act are deemed to be of ''public order'' and the parties cannot derogate from these even with a written contract. When a law is deemed to be of ''public order'' any agreement that is contrary to the law is neither legally valid nor binding. An arrangement to give time off or regular pay for overtime is often contrary to the provisions of the Labour Standards Act and thereby illegal.

An ex-employee has by law a confidentiality and loyalty obligation to this former employer. He cannot leave with a client list and solicit the clients of his former employer. The former employer can ask that the court issues and injunction prohibiting the former employee from soliciting the clients and can seek damages from the ex-employee.