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Posted By: JK

Barry,

I have to disagree with a couple of points you made above. I think if an auction house expects the terms of its deal with a consignor to remain private, then, as noted by Adam, a confidentiality provision should be included in the contract (as it so happens, I would be glad to help you draft one ). That brings me to my second point - your analogy to employees discussing their salaries and raises with one another is not a valid comparison.

Specifically, you stated: "there are large offices that have many employees. Some are extremely talented and help the company make a lot of money. Others are so-so and just kind of hang around. When it comes time to give them raises, one is going to get a bigger raise than the other. Don't you think that is confidential information? Can't you see the trouble it will cause the company if everyone discusses their raise on the office bulletin board?"

First, most employees choose not to discuss such things because they want to keep that information private. Second, not to get overly legal in this thread, but it is actually against federal law to prohibit most non-supervisory employees from discussing their wages with one another (despite the fact that many companies have policies attempting to do just that). Specifically, such policies violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to the extent that they restrain or interfere with the employees' right to engage in "protected concerted activities". And, if anyone is wondering,the Act covers unionized and non-unionized employers alike.

Rob - if employees at Ford were posting salaries on their message board, not only would it be odd, the management would already know not to go near it with a ten foot pole. While many non-unionized employers have no idea that interfering in such activity could land them in hot water, I guarantee that Ford is well aware of its employees' right to discuss such things free from interference.