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4416 East West Highway
Fourth Floor
Bethesda, MD 20814-4568
Phone: (301)986-9600
Fax: (301)986-1301
Toll Free: (888)986-9600
E-mail: sgro@sgrolaw.com

In Brief . . .

Protect Your Trade Secrets
Although policies to protect trade secrets vary from company to company, an effective policy will probably contain, at a minimum:

• A trade-secrets inventory,
• A program to train employees how to use trade secrets properly,
• Clear rules limiting employees' access to trade secrets on a need-to-know basis,
• Agreements restricting departing employees' use of trade secrets, and
• Reminders to departing employees that they are bound by confidentiality agreements they signed.

But owners must treat trade secrets as such for courts to give them legal protection.

Watch Those Training Programs If you're like most employers, you know the importance of complying with antidiscrimination laws and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requirements in hiring, firing and promoting employees.

But you may not know that these statutes also apply to your training programs. The four main violations of EEOC requirements are:

1. Disparate treatment,
2. Adverse impact,
3. Continuing past discriminatory practices, and
4. Harassment or hostile training environments.