A client file copied onto a USB drive, a pricing grid sent to a competitor, a product plan pasted into a generative AI tool: data leaks rarely originate from spectacular hacking. They often pass through an employee, and the quality of the employment contract then decides the dispute.
The legal foundation: real protection
The Tunisian labor law is not powerless. Article 14 quater of the Labor Code lists the disclosure of one of the company’s professional secrets, outside cases authorized by law, among serious faults, and a serious fault deprives the end-of-service severance pay provided for in Article 22.
In criminal law, Article 254 of the Penal Code punishes holders of secrets by state or profession with six months of imprisonment and a fine of 120 dinars, and Article 97 of Organic Law No. 63 of 2004 extends this regime to those responsible for processing personal data and to their agents.
Thus, the limit is structural since this baseline targets professional secrecy, a narrow notion, while the value of a company also lies in a client portfolio, a source code, or a product launch calendar.
Without a written definition, the employer must convince a judge who evaluates, according to Article 14 quater, the real and serious character of the dismissal based on the evidence produced by the parties. The confidentiality clause fills this gap: it converts diffuse loyalty into a precise, enforceable, and provable commitment.
The shock of 2025
