Can my employer/former employer distribute my signed contract to a third party?
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Can my employer/former employer distribute my signed contract to a third party?
What if my former employer handed out my signed contract with them to a third party without my consent? is that legal? If not, what kind of damages could I go after them for? Can I also go after the third party for illegally obtaining the contract?
Asked on February 5, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
There is no law saying that Party B may not hand a contract with party A to party C; contracts are not inherently protected or confidential material and may in theory be posted on the World Wide Web. Of course, there are some exceptions: the contract itself or some other agreement between the parties may call for confidentiality; also to the degree that the contract could theoretically contain information which should be protected (e.g. one person's social security number, family information, or health information--it's not likely, but there could be private information in there) that private information should be redacted or blacked out. However, there is no general rule or law against showing a contract to third parties or requiring consent to do so.
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