What You Need to Know About Suing an Employer for a Breach of Confidentiality
Confidentiality is critical between employees and employers in the workplace. Here’s how to sue an employer for breach of confidentiality.
When someone breaks confidentiality or trust, it may be in an employee’s best interest to sue their employer.
Breaches of Confidentiality
To sue an employer for breach of confidentiality, one must first assess the confidentiality agreement they signed in the employee handbook when accepting the job. A breach of confidentiality occurs when one discloses an employee’s private information to a third party without consent.
Related: How to Calculate Damages in a Wrongful Termination Case
Examples of breach of confidentiality may include:
- Social Security numbers,
- Personal information,
- Civil lawsuits,
- Criminal charges, and
- Client information is obtained by third parties.
Taking Action on Breach of Confidentiality Claims
The first step when suing an employer for a breach of confidentiality is collecting evidence and identifying where the breach occurred. One should search the employee handbook to reference the breach of confidentiality requirements. Documenting how the event occurred, its consequences, and the exact violation may be crucial to building a case. One should reach out to the employer to stop the behavior immediately to prevent a further breach. However, informing the employer may jeopardize the case by destroying evidence. For this reason, the filer should collect information first quickly and quietly.
Related: Suing Uber for Wrongful Termination
The filer can contact a third party if the individual who discovered the breach believes they may have insightful information. Moreover, a filer can make a future employer aware of the situation to explain their reasons for leaving their current employer.
The employer can sign an undertaking about the employee recognizing the breach of contract has caused significant damage to the business or the individual. Whether or not the filer signs the breach acknowledgment, they should seek legal advice through an attorney to sue their employer formally.
FAQs about How to Sue an Employer for Breach of Confidentiality
Will an employer ever owe money directly to the employee who breached confidentiality?
An employer may face a monetary penalty in court owed to the victimized employee. Punitive damages may also apply to the company’s managers and other leaders to handle the issue.
Can criminal charges ever occur due to a breach of confidentiality within a company?
If the breach of confidentiality includes theft, identity fraud, or other severe offenses, a judge may press criminal charges upon the employer. If an employer does not have other individuals within the company to execute punishments, the judge may feel inclined to inflict punishments themselves.
What happens if the employee handbook does not explicitly outline a breach of confidentiality, but a party inappropriately discloses personal information?
If the employee handbook does not explicitly outline the breach of confidentiality measures and instances, an implied obligation of confidentiality applies. The law indicates certain information employers and employees should expect to keep private and confidential. If someone disregards the implied rule, the state can enforce equitable consequences.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one would like to learn more about How to Sue an Employer for Breach of Confidentiality, get your free consultation with one of our Employment Attorneys today.