Consequences of Breach of Confidentiality

Confidentiality is the term that is used when any particular information is kept secret from other people and is only used by the person who has that particular information. It is frequently used in companies when the company gives their employee certain confidential information that is required for that employee to do their work. In this, a person or a company tells some information to the other person and that person who receives that information has to keep that information to himself only. If in case that person passes on that information to any other person then it will be a case of Breach of Confidentiality. The concept of confidentiality is used in many professions such as medicine, law, psychological counseling, religious beliefs, and journalism.

Confidential information is any personal personnel information that is shared with someone, a group of people, or any organization. This information is very crucial to execute the agreement between the parties. The simplest example of confidential information is when a patient tells about his medical condition to his doctor. It is the job of the doctor to keep this information only to himself and treat the patient. It is a requirement by law that the doctors must keep all this information confidential to themselves only. The patient can take action against doctors if they pass on this information to anyone without their consent. Other than this, any trade secret, business plans of the company, intellectual property, and judicial information all are part of confidential information. This information must be kept safe by the person who has given such information to the other person.

Confidentiality in a Contract

Confidentiality in any contract between two individuals or companies is governed by the clauses of that contract. A party can define in the contract that all information in the contract will be treated as confidential and what are the repercussions in case any party tells such information to any other party who is not a part of the contract. These clauses of the contract will protect the party in case any confidential information comes into the knowledge of the other party. The parties to the contract can also make a Non-Disclosure Agreement separately and tell the party to the contract to sign the same. This agreement is specially created to protect any confidential information that is told to the parties of the contract. In some cases, the clauses of the Non-disclosure Agreement will also suffice after the expiry of the original contract between the parties.

The companies have a lot of information about their employees. When any employee joins a new organization then he/she has to share various information about their education, family, and background. The company keeps such information very safe and ensures that such information must not have anybody who is not authorized by the company. In any company, any conversation between the top management of the company is also very confidential and the company takes enough measures to safeguard such information. If such information is leaked to the general public, then it can become very problematic for the company and the company has to suffer loss because of that. Because of these reasons, the company ensures that any information between their top management is strictly kept confidential and only people with higher roles can access such information. The trade secrets of the companies or the Intellectual Property Rights of the companies are also treated as confidential information and such information is also kept very safely in all the companies.

Consequences of Breach of Confidentiality

If any person is trusted with confidential information, then it is their responsibility to keep such information very safe and to ensure that no other person has access to that information. They have to make sure they do not share such information with anybody except themselves and if they are keeping any softcopy of that information then to keep the softcopy very safe and in a secure place. Those persons who have such information are entrusted by the person who is in higher places and if that information leaks then they have to suffer the consequences of the same. Some of the consequences of sharing confidential information are as follows.

1. Termination

When any person joins any organization then the company must ensure that employees sign an employment agreement and non-disclosure agreement with the company. These contracts ensure that such employees know the repercussions in case they leak any confidential information about the company. These contracts also make sure that the employee knows that all information is treated as confidential information for the company. Even after that if any employee tells any confidential information to any other person then the company has all the right to terminate such employee.

2. Lawsuit

The company can also initiate lawsuits against such employees who have leaked confidential information about the company to any other person or the company. This information of the company is the trade secrets of the company and because of that, only the business of the company is flourishing. If such information is handed over to the rival companies, then they have to face serious loss and because of that, only the company has the option to file a lawsuit against the person who has leaked confidential information about the company.

3. Criminal Charges

The company can also press criminal charges against the employees who have left confidential information about the company to any other person or the company. If the information is very important to the company such as their intellectual property rights, then the company has all the right to file criminal charges against that person. When the employees of Coca-Cola Company leaked their secrets to their rival company, then the Coca-Cola Company filed criminal charges against them, and all the persons who were involved in that leak were punished by the government and sentenced to jail for certain years. They also had to give monetary compensation to the company.

4. Reputations

When any employee is working in a very specified industry, then he has to take care of his reputation. Such an industry in which information is given to an employee and if he misuses such information then the reputation of that employee is destroyed and no other company will hire such employee in the future. In such companies’ information is treated as very important and it is their responsibility to safeguard such information if they fail to deliver that service to their employee then they will not be hired by any organization in the future.

Conclusion

Any information can be treated as essential by the company, it only depends on the company that which all information is necessary for them. If any information that the company treats as important and tells their employee about that information because of their job role, then it is the responsibility of that employee to safeguard such information. If the employee fails to safeguard such information, then the company can take any action that it deems necessary. In the fast-growing world, information is the basis of everything. Companies are running their business only because of their secrets and if such secrets are leaked out in public then the company has to face serious loss because of that. The company also safeguards its information very carefully and only gives that information to the employee in case it is required for the job role. The companies also take the help of the law in protecting their intellectual property rights by registering them as per the law. After the registration of intellectual property rights if anyone misuses their intellectual property right then they can take action as per the law against the person who has misused their intellectual property. These consequences are very severe and can destroy the career of the employee so they also have to take necessary steps in safeguarding such information.