Strictly Confidential - Yes, This Includes Facebook Too!

It is very common to include a provision in a settlement agreement that the terms of the settlement shall remain confidential.  Employers have an obvious interest in not making this information readily known to other current and prospective employees.  This point was made clear in a recent Florida state court ruling.  After settling an age discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, a father told his daughter the basic terms of the settlement.  The daughter, being a typical teenager, then posted news of the settlement to her more than 1,200 Facebook friends.  Not surprisingly, the father's former employer learned of the Facebook post.  The former employer then refused to pay the money agreed upon under the terms of the settlement because the father (its former employee) breached the confidentiality provision by informing his daughter of the settlement.  The Florida state court agreed and refused to enforce the settlement.  This mistake cost the father $80,000.  Here is an article discussing the facts in more detail http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/26/3961605/daughters-facebook-boast-costs.html.

Bottom line: if a settlement agreement contains a confidentiality provision, it should be taken seriously or one runs the risk of breaching the terms of the settlement.

Facebook, age discrimination, breach of confidentiality provision, law-in-the-workplace, retaliation claims