Legalities in approaching businesses for...business

Styles · 8 May 2011 at 20:43

Hi,

I used to work for a company that provided services to businesses that I now want to provide myself as part of my own business. I finished working for this company over a year ago now.

Am I allowed to approach customers that I knew from my previous job to try and secure their business for my new company?

Is there anything I need to be careful of?

Thanks

atpbx · 8 May 2011 at 20:45

What did the contract of your last employer say?

Because thats all that matters.

Styles · 8 May 2011 at 20:46

I shall have a read, but I'm almost certain it mentioned absoloutly nothing about it. Obviously I know you're not able to bad mouth a company as such, but saying you're cheaper, more qualified etc I'll assume is fair game?

Ricochet J · 8 May 2011 at 20:50

It's reasonable. During your employment you would have accrued links. To use these links when you're self employed is fair game.

philjohn · 8 May 2011 at 21:44

Your contract may well have an "anticompete" clause where you can't poach customers, fellow employees, or run a similar business for a period of time. I would expect it would only be 6 months to a year in most cases, so dig that contract out.

linktoinsanity · 8 May 2011 at 23:57

In most cases no. Your ex-empoyers could sue you for stealing their customers.

Vonhelmet · 8 May 2011 at 23:59

Check your contract, as said. There could be a clause in there to prevent you poaching customers, though it'll have to be limited to a reasonable radius and timeframe.

bandit · 9 May 2011 at 00:30

if you have the clause in the contract, its all about the length of it as people say. usually for most employees this is not ever an issue, however certain areas in business are more sensitive, so places i have seen this in place is where your in a significant role in an organisation.

examples apart from the obvious director level is head of divisions, sales managers, bid managers etc.

you can't be sued if you have left, in fact yo could have approached them the next day and theres nothing they could do.

if you have an idea, and you think it will work go for it

Vonhelmet · 9 May 2011 at 00:35

bandit said:
if you have the clause in the contract, its all about the length of it as people say. usually for most employees this is not ever an issue, however certain areas in business are more sensitive, so places i have seen this in place is where your in a significant role in an organisation.

examples apart from the obvious director level is head of divisions, sales managers, bid managers etc.

you can't be sued if you have left, in fact yo could have approached them the next day and theres nothing they could do.

if you have an idea, and you think it will work go for it

I've bolded the bit that I take issue with here... Maybe I misunderstand you, but you can be sued for breach of contract after leaving an employment.

If you have a restrictive covenant clause in your contract, such as a non-competition clause, you can be sued by your ex-employer after leaving their employment if you breach that covenant. However, they would have to show that the radius and timeframe were reasonable i.e. they couldn't say that you can't solicit any custom anywhere in the UK for 10 years, but they could maybe say that you can't solicit any custom within 10 miles of their business for a year.

bandit · 9 May 2011 at 00:39

vonhelmet said:
I've bolded the bit that I take issue with here... Maybe I misunderstand you, but you can be sued for breach of contract after leaving an employment.

If you have a restrictive covenant clause in your contract, such as a non-competition clause, you can be sued by your ex-employer after leaving their employment if you breach that covenant. However, they would have to show that the radius and timeframe were reasonable i.e. they couldn't say that you can't solicit any custom anywhere in the UK for 10 years, but they could maybe say that you can't solicit any custom within 10 miles of their business for a year.

sorry what i meant was that if you have no clause in your contract then they cant sue

my previous job had a clause which didnt allow me to work for a couple of different companies, but i negotiated an allowance where i could move to them but only in a completely different sector. i was working in Public Sector (central government) and they were ok with Healthcare, finance and a few others.

dowie · 9 May 2011 at 00:52

I've got a 6 month no-compete which I understand can be enforced in certain situations - AFAIK (this is just going on general advice I've heard third hand) anything over a year is going to be very hard for your previous company to enforce especially if they're not prepared to pay you anything during that period.

You might want to check if there are any rules/agreements in place for clients as well as former employees - there certainly are at my place as they're apparently (again going on third hand info)much easier to enforce than the employment contract non-competes.

Bar · 9 May 2011 at 06:46

The main thing is lay out why you are the best - do not say anything negative about your previous company or any other company by name. You can stray into the territory of libel / slander, so simply lay out why you are better, what your USP is and the advantages of using you vs the competition?