Legal Brief: Non-Disparagement Clauses
October 22, 2024
Security Business Magazine
Types : Bylined Articles
How they can protect your business and its reputation
Let’s say you have a dispute with someone – perhaps an employee, a vendor, or a competitor. Once the dispute is resolved, you want peace of mind that the other party will not undermine or disparage your business going forward. Non-disparagement clauses – often included in settlement or severance agreements – do just that. They aim to prevent one or both parties from making negative comments about each other or from doing anything that would convince someone else not to do business with the other.
A general non-disparagement provision can be as simple as “Employee agrees that Employee will not disparage the company or any of its officers, directors, or employees.” That said, such a basic provision could risk being deemed overly broad. Further, what is deemed disparaging is not uniform. It depends on the circumstances. Where appropriate, parties should give the provision some context to aid its enforceability.