A company that hired an independent contractor without requiring him to sign a confidentiality agreement could not later sue him for misappropriation of trade secrets, a Superior Court judge has decided.
A company that hired an independent contractor without requiring him to sign a confidentiality agreement could not later sue him for misappropriation of trade secrets, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has decided.
David Himelfarb of McCarter & English in Boston represented the defendant and his co-defendant uncle. He said the case illustrates one of the many pitfalls companies face when they classify workers as independent contractors.
“Because the company treated the defendant as an independent contractor instead of as an employee, the court decided that the company did not take adequate steps to protect its confidential information, such as price and customer lists, before disclosing the information to the defendant,” Himelfarb said. “Going forward, if a company wants to disclose confidential information to an independent contractor, it should, at a bare minimum, have the individual sign a confidentiality agreement.”