with the Company and its Subsidiaries, the Grantee shall immediately return all such Confidential Information to the Company, whether it exists in written, electronic, computerized or other form. Notwithstanding anything elsewhere to the contrary, the Grantee (a) may disclose Confidential Information (i) to the Company and its Subsidiaries and Affiliates, or to any authorized agent or representative of any of them, (ii) in confidence to any attorney or accountant actually retained by the Grantee for the purpose of securing professional advice (but not the Company’s privileged information), or (iii) when required to do so by law or by a court, governmental agency, legislative body, arbitrator or other person with jurisdiction to order the Grantee to divulge, disclose or make accessible such information, and (b) may disclose or use Confidential Information (i) with the Company’s prior written consent, (ii) in connection with performing the Grantee’s employment duties for the Company and its Subsidiaries or (iii) in connection with any legal proceeding involving the Company or its Subsidiaries. In the event that the Grantee is required to disclose any Confidential Information pursuant to clause (a)(iii) or (b)(iii) of the immediately preceding sentence, the Grantee shall (A) promptly give the Company advance notice that such disclosure may be made and (B) not oppose, and affirmatively cooperate with, the Company, at its reasonable request and sole expense, in seeking to protect the confidentiality of the Confidential Information. For purposes hereof, “Confidential Information” shall mean information, knowledge or data (whether or not a trade secret or protected by laws pertaining to intellectual property and including, without limitation, information relating to data, finances, marketing, pricing, profit margins, claims, legal matters, loss control, marketing and business plans and strategies, software, processing, vendors, administrators, customers or prospective customers, products, brokers and employees), other than information, knowledge or data that (x) has previously been disclosed to the public, or is in the public domain, other than as a result of the Grantee’s breach of this Section 7(a) or other obligation of confidentiality, or (y) is known or generally available to the public. For the avoidance of doubt, (1) nothing in the Plan or this Agreement is intended to or shall (A) prohibit or restrict the Grantee from communicating about or reporting any possible violation of federal, state or local law or regulation to any governmental agency or entity, including, but not limited to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or any applicable self-regulatory organization, or making any other disclosure that is protected under the whistleblower provisions of federal, state or local law or regulation, in each case without notice to the Company, or (B) limit the right of the Grantee to receive an award for information provided to any such governmental agency or entity or self-regulatory organization and (2) the Company hereby confirms its consent to any such disclosure that is protected under the whistleblower provisions of federal, state or local law or regulation by the Grantee, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Plan or this Agreement, except for information that is protected from disclosure by any applicable law or privilege.
(b) Solicitation of Employees. The Grantee covenants and agrees that during the Grantee’s employment and for a period of two (2) years after the termination of the Grantee’s employment, whether such termination occurs at the insistence of the Company or the Grantee (for whatever reason), the Grantee shall not, individually or jointly with others, directly or indirectly:
(i) recruit, hire, encourage, or attempt to recruit or hire, alone or by assisting others, any employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or former employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries with whom the Grantee worked, had business contact, or about whom the Grantee gainednon-public or Confidential Information (hereinafter, “Company’s employees or former employees”);
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