Penalty for breach of confidentiality agreement

The Employment Relations Authority has upheld an employer’s claim that a former employee breached a confidentiality clause in an employment settlement when he went on Facebook bragging about the pay-out he had received.  The employee’s defence that he was not talking about this employer but another employer was not believed by the Authority because the Facebook post was only five days after the settlement agreement was reached with this employer.

The ERA penalised the employee $1,500 and that money is to be paid to his former employer.

The employee had bragged in the Facebook page that he beat another employer in the Employment Court thanks to the $20,000 donation.  In reality the employer had only made a $1,000 payment.  Therefore the $1,500 penalty has wiped out all of the gains the former employee made at mediation.

Alan Knowsley    
Employment Lawyer
Wellington