In the ever changing world today, companies are continuing to innovate so they can maintain a competitive advantage. In order to keep their ideas secret, companies use legal documents called non-disclosure agreements or confidentiality agreements. Thousands of companies sign these contracts with other businesses and their own employees to insure that current projects, innovative ideas, or new products are undisclosed from competitors. NDAs provide a level of protection and comfort when disclosing information to another party. They are a significant part in intellectual property perfection.
A non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements are contracts between two or more parties that outline confidential material, knowledge, or information that
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Companies do this because, they don’t want you sharing interview questions or recruiting practices. Or, if they’re discussing company issues or problems that they don’t want to become public. When an employee signs this contract they agree not to share intellectual property, client information, or anything related to the work that the employee does for the company. But what happens when the employee chooses to end their employment at one company and move to another? A potential employee may be required to sign a contract called a non-compete clause (NCC). A NCC prevents an employee from competing with their employer if they ever decide to leave the company. This prevents the employee from working for a competitor or starting their own business, and gain an advantage by using confidential information from their former employer. Information like trade secrets, customer/client lists, business practices, future products, marketing plans, etc. would be secure under this clause. Many employees now are bound to this clause and have had an impact on their search to find better work. Signing these types of contracts gives companies the power to dictate where their former employees can work. If the employee violates their agreement by working at another business, he/she could face a lawsuit. And if the new business won’t defend the new employee or if he/she does not have the money to pay for legal bills, they may have to resign and live off unemployment until they find another job. This prevents employees from moving on and finding better opportunities for themselves. States such as, California, Montana, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, have banned the use of non-compete clauses for low-level employees. Nevertheless, these clauses are still popular in the states that have not banned
Confidentiality has several different levels that include employee, management, and business information. Employee data includes personal identifying information, disability and medical information, etc. Keeping this material confidential is important because the information could lead to criminal activity to include fraud or discrimination; this can result in decreased productivity and affect employee morale. Management information covers impending layoffs, terminations, workplace investigation of employee misconduct, etc. It should go without saying that sensitive data should only be available to management. Lastly, the business portion includes business plans, company forecasts, and special ingredients/recipes, information that would not be readily available to competitors. Employees and managers should receive training on how to properly handle confidential information (Jules Halpern Associates, LLC,
Though the Securities and Exchange Commission rules governing selective disclosure and insider trading contain no provisions relating specifically to the health of executives, publicly traded companies must nonetheless manage the potential implications of their key executives’ health on perceptions of the company’s future success as well as their propriety in disclosing information material to investors. This can be a difficult task, as an employer disclosing particulars about an employee’s health seems to run contrary to the special privacy protections given health information in the U.S., yet such information can undeniably affect investors’ decisions. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a probe to evaluate statements made by Apple, Inc. regarding the health of CEO Steve Jobs. While not yet a formal investigation, this unprecedented evaluation of health-related disclosures raises significant issues about how such information should be treated and how the rights of investors are to be weighed against the rights of executives. Additionally, if this practice becomes regular, it could lead to unfair and burdensome erosions of executives’ rights to privacy and medical autonomy.
By using The Case of Sally for this case study, I will work through the ethical decision making model to decide the best course of action. The Case of Sally can be found in Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions (8th edition), chapter 6 Confidentiality: Ethical and Legal Issues (p. 255). The therapist is having difficulty in determining if she has the ethical and legal responsibility to breach confidentiality. This case involves a 12-year-old girl named Sally, who experienced a brief encounter of sexual fondling by her intoxicated father. The father has no previous history of molesting his daughter. He has agreed to seek substance abuse counseling as a result of his inability to recollect the fondling incident. The family is
People are afraid to admit to themselves and others that they need to help to
In the modern era, the use of computer technology is very important. Back in the day people only used handwriting on the pieces of paper to save all documents, either in general documents or medical records. Now this medical field is using a computer to kept all medical records or other personnel info. Patient's records may be maintained on databases, so that quick searches can be made. But, even if the computer is very important, the facility must remain always in control all the information they store in a computer. This is because to avoid individuals who do not have a right to the patient's information.
Introduction: Health information is regarded as one of the most sensitive types of personal information. For this reason, the Privacy Act 1988 provides extra protections around its handling. For example, a counselling organisation generally needs a client’s consent before they can collect their health information. The Privacy Act regulates how organisations collect and handle personal information, including health information. It also includes provisions that generally allow a person to access information held about them.
Following a placement with a private and charity funded organisation located in Wales, this essay aims to discuss the main national policies that focus on maintaing patient confidentiality and consider how these policies are implemented locally in relation to the placement undertaken.
It has come to our attention that a breach of confidentiality has occurred in our office. One of our patient’s has filed a complaint regarding a breach of his (PHI) patient health information. The breach occurred when two of our employees were discussing the patient’s HIV status in a common area in the presence of his mother. This is unacceptable and is a violation of the HIPAA Laws and our policies. Fortunately, the patient’s mother was aware of her son’s condition and there were no other patients within earshot. Let me make this clear, this was an unauthorized release of patient health information and we are obliged by law to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Not only is it a privacy issue but also a violation of the patients civil rights. We will address our expectations of our staff in regards to PHI and what safeguards will we improve to guarantee that this does on happen again. We will review our policies, HIPAA and the conditions for HIV/AIDS patients and the consequences for this breach in confidentiality.
In order for attorneys to effectively represent their clients rules govern how and what information is gathered, used, and stored or destroyed. The unit three seminar discusses the rules that regulate these things during and after the representation of a client. There are several systems in place that protect clients and their confidential information from being misused by those who are involved in their cases and legal matters. The duty of confidentiality, attorney/client privilege, and the work product privilege are the topics discussed during this seminar for the purpose of teaching the differences between them all as well as how each works and for what purpose.
Medical records and their contents have been an important issue concerning privacy for physicians and their patients. A health care reform bill which passed legislation in 1996 is known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) had a new rule put into place in 2000, which requires health care physicians and insurance providers to put into place new procedures that would guard patient health information ("Patient Privacy and Confidentiality", 2013).
The similarity between confidentiality, privilege information, anonymity, and protected health information is small when comparing their differences. Although they all protect clients in some extent, they are distinct from one another regarding their boundaries. Confidentiality focuses on protecting information shared between a client and social worker. To keep confidentiality between a social worker and clients, the social worker must keep the information away from the media, and away from court unless they must report it under law. Privilege information is any information that cannot be disclose, and cannot be part of a testimony in court. Anonymity is when the clients’ identity is kept a secret. Protected health information is any information
Personal data is quickly becoming a commodity in today's high technology world. This information is used by banks, investment and brokerage companies, credit card merchants, government agencies (local, state and federal), and consumer product-based companies. Most people probably don't realize the amount of information that's shared between companies, or how often it's done. Many companies sell and share customer data to help sell products and find out what new products they should produce. Other uses include gathering information about inventory levels to help better determine what types of products are bought at which store, when and how often. This can be used for inventory and production, to make sure that the store (or stores for chains, like Safeway and Long's Drugs) can have the products available when they're needed.
According to the New York Times, “More than 1,800 students die every year of alcohol-related causes...600,000 are injured while drunk, and nearly 100,000 become victims of alcohol-influenced sexual assaults”(Mcmurtrie). Alcohol-related injuries and deaths are issues colleges have been struggling with for decades. While some have implemented laws to prevent binge drinking, many have simply banned the use of alcohol on campuses. By implementing these strict rules, it seems as if colleges think students only drink for fun and because of peer pressure. Rather than solving the problem of alcohol-related injuries and deaths, these strict laws ensure that students find other dangerous means of obtaining and consuming this substance.
A non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements are contracts between two or more parties that outline confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another. An NDA creates a
The privacy of the individual is the most important right. Without privacy, the democratic system that we know would not exist. Privacy is one of the fundamental values on which our country was founded. There are exceptions to privacy rights that are created by the need for defense and security.