LAW565 - Employee Duties and Promises

Course Description

How can you protect your company from having former employees divulge trade secrets or take customer relationships to competing firms? How does the law regard inventions and copyrights; who owns them?

Answers to these questions will vary depending on the status of the employee. There are specific protections for rank-and-file employees, as well as certain expectations of executives when it comes to misappropriation of company assets and non-compete contracts. This course will help you understand the rationale behind these laws and how they play out in real-life situations.

You begin with a focus on the employee’s obligations to their employer: When is it acceptable to compete with a former employer, when is it not acceptable, and how can you tell the difference? The course proceeds with an exploration of the variety of contracts that employers can use to protect themselves from employees competing in various ways. You will have a chance to evaluate restrictive covenants and reflect on the question of what constitutes legitimate business interests. You will gain familiarity with aspects of the reasonably tailored tests. The course ends with a look at the legal responsibilities that apply to copyrights and inventions and introduces the role that a well-crafted holdover clause can play in protecting the interests of a business.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Employment Law in Practice

Faculty Author

Benefits to the Learner

• Assess your duty of loyalty
• Determine when restrictive covenants are enforceable
• Assess intellectual property rights

Target Audience

• Business professionals
• Professionals in heavily regulated industries
• Compliance professionals
• Risk management professionals
• Business owners
• Contract administrators

Applies Towards the Following Certificates

• Employment Law for Leaders : Core Courses
• Immigration Law : Elective Courses