In assessing the applicability of a restrictive pact, a court has the power to enforce the agreement only to the extent that it deems it appropriate. Provisions that are not unreasonable are not enforced and if the court finds the agreement to be wilfully oppressive, the court may invalidate it in its entirety. Solari Industries Inc. Malady, 55 N.J. 571, 585 (1970). The latter factor in the evaluation of restrictive agreements is of particular concern in the context of agreements involving individuals with professional services. In such cases, the concern is that clients of the profession, who may unilaterally decide to relocate their business with that person when they change jobs, will encroach on the constraints. See Karlin v. Weinberg, 77 N.J. 408 (1978) (Doctors); Mailman, Ross, Toyes and Shapiro v. Edelson, 183 N.J. Super.

434 (Ch. Div. 1982) (accountant); Dwyer v. Jung, 133 N.J. Super. 343 (Ch. Div.), aff`d o.b., 137 N.J. Super. 135 (Ca. Div.

1975) (Attorneys). The consequences of this new law are manifold. In almost all severance or settlement agreements, whether harassment, discrimination or retaliation or claims, employers rightly seek the release or waiver of all claims, including harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Therefore, this new law will apply to all of these agreements, even if the primary intent was not to obtain the release of these types of rights and the confidentiality required was not for such claims. In addition, employers are now required to include in the severance or compensation contract a bold and important disclaimer, which tells the worker that the employer can also disclose them if he discloses the information sought. In essence, employees are informed of their right to violate the confidentiality clause as part of any agreement. Finally, employers must now be concerned about the amount of severance pay that is known to the public, and they must take this into account before making a decision. A confidential agreement, also known as a confidentiality agreement, concerns the legally binding contract or contracts used to protect private/non-public information of companies against third parties, public parties or others. It could also be used by parties who wish to keep this information secure in order to develop and protect potential and real business relationships. An example could make it clearer. Suppose an employee with performance problems accuses her supervisor of sexual harassment.

The manager denies sexually harassing the employee and the employer conducts a thorough investigation and finds that no harassment has taken place. However, to avoid the cost of litigation and the possibility of embarrassing publicity, the employer agrees to rely on the employee. In exchange for a relatively nominal amount, she resigned and promised not to seek re-employment. The agreement contains an NDA. You may want some advice from your lawyers, but, NDAs a free one.