Terminating the Employment Relationship

Jones represents and agrees that the terms and amount of this Agreement are completely confidential and will not be communicated to any third party, including, but not limited to, any past, present or prospective employees of the City and/or attorneys for such employees, or any members of the news media. Jones expressly agrees to refrain from making any comments or statements about Jones’ claims, or this Agreement except the following: "The matter has been resolved." Notwithstanding the foregoing language, Jones may make such disclosures as are required by court order, law, and as necessary for legitimate law enforcement or compliance purposes, and Jones may disclose the fact and monetary amount of this Agreement to his spouse, respective tax advisors, and/or accountants after advising such parties of this confidentiality provision.

We generally recommend having a unilateral confidentiality clause that prevents an employee from disclosing the terms of the agreement. A bilateral confidentiality clause can lead to problems for an employer with multiple employees who may disclose the terms of the agreement. It becomes very difficult for an employer to control what its employees say about an agreement, and one leak can lead to a breach of the agreement. If a bilateral confidentiality clause is essential, we recommend consulting legal counsel to discuss how it may be structured to minimize the risk of breach.

LCW Practice Advisor

a. Public Records Act Requests Agreements that involve payment of public funds are generally considered public records that must be disclosed pursuant to a valid Public Records Act request. 330 Consequently, a confidentiality clause in an agreement cannot shield the agreement from disclosure pursuant to a California Public Records Act.

Sanchez v. County of San Bernardino 331 In Sanchez , an employee and his county employer agreed to a confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement. However, the County told a local newspaper that Sanchez resigned because of an improper relationship with the Union President. Sanchez sued for violation of the confidentiality clause. The County argued that the Public Records Act required it to disclose the information and that the confidentiality clause was unenforceable to the extent it prevented the County from disclosing such information. The Court determined that the confidentiality clause was enforceable because it expressly carved out any disclosures “permitted by law.” The Court found that the County was not

Terminating the Employment Relationship ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 108