Should Your Sitter Sign a Confidentiality Agreement?

Rob Lowe has serious baby (sitter) drama. Take our advice so your life story will play out a little differently.

The former West Wing star (GE) and his wife, Sheryl, are suing their ex-nanny, Laura Boyce, for allegedly revealing secrets and telling lies about their family.

Lowe's complaint was filed in a Los Angeles Superior Court on April 7, and asks for at least $1 million in damages. According to the complaint, Boyce violated a confidentiality agreement she made with the Lowe family. She is also charged with defamation and infliction of emotional distress on Lowe, his wife and their two sons during her employment for most of 2007 (she quit in November).

However, the complaint did not specifically identify what information Boyce had shared, or who she is alleged to have shared it with. It simply states that she had "betrayed their trust and engaged in a scheme to hurt the Lowes by spreading malicious lies."

While there may be emotional damage, if the Lowes have a confidentiality agreement with Boyce, it may help them secure a financial settlement. Robert King, a labor and employment attorney and founder of Legally Nanny, says that if drawn up correctly, a confidentiality agreement is a legally biding document that entitles an employer to two types of relief; injunctive and monetary. In this case the injunctive relief would prohibit the nanny from disclosing any information covered in the agreement, and the monetary relief awards damages to the employer if the nanny is to break the agreement.