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I work at a company and was asked to sign a NDA/CA (non disclosure agreement/confidentiality agreement). There is no expiry date (indefinite) as long as the knowledge doesnt become public knowledge. Further the Dutch criminal law (Wetboek van Strafrecht) is applicable. Article 23 (monetary fines) are mentioned as well.
Would it be reasonable to ask for financial compensation? Or not sign it at all?
I work as a hospital as a programmer. This means that I need to be able to access patient data to debug problems. Obviously this is a privacy concern, because I might sell this data to interested third parties.
Signing an NDA was expected from the start in this line of work. It is a logical necessity to prevent such abuse. Having an expiry date on it also doesn't make sense, because even though I no longer work there, the patients' privacy remains equally important.
Asking for special compensation for that NDA makes little sense. It is just one of the default requirements alongside knowing how to program to get this job in the first place. If I hadn't agreed on the terms I wouldn't have gotten this job, simple as that.
Given how you'll be working for a government agency you'll probably also need to have access to information that will cause problems if found out by people outside of the organisation. Hence why signing an NDA in such case makes sense and is not something you should/could ask compensation for directly.
Only if something actually makes a job less appealing in general, which means fewer people would apply at all, can you use it as leverage to ask for extras. Otherwise the job will just go to the next person in line.
I also work in the Netherlands. This is nothing weird as far as I know. At the company I work at, I have (local) governments as clients, and we sign and co-sign NDA's all the time. Also with non-government clients, it's pretty common to do this.
You shouldn't ask for compensation, this is standard procedure and asking for money to sign this would raise some eyebrows, and will probably be a deal-breaker if you don't want to sign unless you're compensated.
NDA's are a very common modern workplace practice, and employers use them routinely to protect their interests. You should not consider any kind of compensation for signing one, because it is viewed as a standard part of the employment agreement, and you aren't doing anything beyond your existing scope of work to abide by it. An NDA is simply codiyfing a rule that already exists in most workplaces to not share confidential information with outside parties.
Not only will asking for compensation not work because you won't receive it, but doing so could harm your position at the company if the HR or security department feels you become a liability. If you feel strongly about signing the NDA, your only realistic options are to resign your position and be very careful about what information you share in the future, or accept the NDA and move on.
I dont know in what field you work, but NDAs are quite common in the software industry. Just like that anything you make during work, belongs to the company. Usually you already get "compensated" by earning more than people who work there and dont know anything and dont need an NDA.
If the work is good, the team seems nice and you want to work there, sign it. Otherwise it will be pretty hard to find a Job without having to sign and NDA.
The below is a layman's understanding, consult a lawyer for an expert opinion.
Compensation
Under Dutch law, an NDA that limits your current or future ability to find work is not enforceable. You're already compensated through your salary, so an NDA that does not affect your market value does not warrant additional compensation.
Standardizing confidentiality
People have different standards, when it comes to what you can and can't discuss about your work. The NDA merely serves to formalize and document the expectations of the company with regards to confidentiality. It might, for instance, limit you to certain devices (only company-owned) or communication channels.
If the NDA contains something you fundamentally disagree with and this section is non-negotiable, consider it a fundamental disagreement with regards to the terms of your employment. Find a different job.
Long Term Applicability
How will this NDA likely affect you in the future?
However:
The burden of proof is heavy, under Dutch law. So even with an NDA, it's typically 'no harm, no foul'. You need to be either malicious or extremely negligent for a judge to approve your firing, or a fine.
The one thing that is often missing with these NDA's (and your contract), is a description of the process for getting pre-publication approval (for blogs or tech talks) or for working on Open Source projects at work - or in your personal time. If either is relevant to you, that's worth a discussion.
My first impression (not saying this is what your intent is) is that it almost comes across initially as blackmail. If you spent your life creating something and you required help/ employees, would you be ok with them taking your years worth of creativity elsewhere and replicating what you are doing at the expense of all of your efforts? Usually non disclosure agreements are in appropriate places for appropriate reasons and they truly shouldn't have to negotiate with anyone to accept and be ok with it.
A lot of people are answering without knowing the scope of the NDA, which is very odd.
The existence of an NDA is a non-issue. The problem is its scope. If you're a programmer, and the NDA involves you never getting a programmer job anywhere else for the rest of your life, that is a problem. It may not even be legally enforceable, but the existence of this signed NDA will cause problems.
If you have concerns with the specific scope of your NDA, you can pay for an hour of a labor lawyer's time and have an impartial 3rd party answer your questions.
