• Determine the type of information the company is most concerned about losing with the departing  employee and inventory sensitive documents to which the departing employee has had access.
  • Review the terms of any applicable handbook provisions, non-disclosure, non-solicitation and/or non-compete agreements with departing employee. If you do not have any such agreement, call us immediately.
  • Require that the departing employee sign a termination certificate, if possible, acknowledging departing employee's understanding and duty not to disclose trade secrets or confidential information and stating that the former employee has returned everything requested and agrees to preserve the company's trade secrets.
  • Obtain trade secret materials and documents (whether in paper or electronic form) in the departing employee's possession or control, including hard copies, storage materials, home computer files, home office files, laptops, cell phones, etc.
  • Require that all tangible company property, such as keys and access cards, be returned.
  • Obtain information about the departing employee's new employer (which could help determine the potential risk of misuse of the Company's confidential or trade secret information).
  • Immediately disable all accounts and access privileges and change all passwords, remote access codes, and dial-in numbers of the departing employee.
  • Set aside and secure all work computers, hard drives, and removable storage media used by the departing employee until these memory storage devices can be copied and examined for any evidence of misuse of confidential or trade secret information.
  • Copy the departing employee's entire email mailbox for the employee's last 60 to 90 days of employment with the Company from the Company's email backup medium or server and preserve for possible examination for evidence of misuse.
  • If the employer suspects theft of trade secrets or confidential information, immediately arrange for forensic imaging of the hard drive of the departing employee's computer and all company-owned electronic devices.
  • Send letters to departing employee reminding him or her of the obligations under any agreements signed, and to the new employer informing it of the agreements the departing employee signed.
  • These agreements need to be carefully crafted so as not to tortiously interfere with employee's contractual relationship.