I am about to sue an ex employee for breach of contract

ethan · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:03

Does anybody know, of-hand, if there is a legal requirement to provide a second copy of a contract to the employee involved? Suprise suprise the employee claims she did not receive one sigh.

I am sueing her for going into direct competition with us by stealing a number of our clients. She abused her position in the company despite signing a contract which included Post Termination Restrictions prohibiting her from taking our clients for up to six months: as a consequence we are making a loss of £5000 over this period. We also employed another individual to replace her and take over her clients only to find that she had taken them with her. :confused:

I aso intend to make an example of her.

Danthus · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:05

I don't think you can restrict someone employment can you after they leave?

bushmins · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:06

Sorry no help for you from me, i would advice for you to see your solicitor not ask on an internet forum in general discussions.

Bit shocked you would ask here.

ethan · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:06

OldCoals said:
I don't think you can restrict someone employment can you after they leave?

Yes you can. It's called protecting your business interests. Interests that you have worked hard to achieve.

ethan · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:07

bushmins said:
Sorry no help for you from me, i would advice for you to see your solicitor not ask on an internet forum in general discussions.

Bit shocked you would ask here.

There are some trainee solicitors on here.

Morgoth · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:08

Ouch, feel bad for you buddy. Hope you can get some recompense.

Biohazard · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:08

I take it you have a signed copy of the original contract of employment?

I would seek redress, I'm not sure how you will make an example of her however.

nuttyprot · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:09

OldCoals said:
I don't think you can restrict someone employment can you after they leave?

Yes but only for a certain amount of time and has to be in a written contract.

chaparral · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:09

ethan said:
We also employed another individual to replace her and take over her clients only to find that she had taken them with her. I aso intend to make an example of her.

Would it been possible that maybe her clients wanted to stay with her as they have been dealing with her ??

VaderDSL · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:09

Is it such a good idea to publically post about this before it has happened? Surely it's inviting some sort of hassle even for OcUK in terms of protecting themselves?

But hope it gets sorted one way or another.

Raymond Lin · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:09

OldCoals said:
I don't think you can restrict someone employment can you after they leave?

Yes you can, but obviously it needs to be reasonable.

It is one thing to restrict someone to set up a new business in the same town but it is quite another to stop someone to start a business if they move to Glasgow and you are in Devon when the business is hairdressing for example.

Context need to be taken.

Raumarik · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:10

Consult a solicitor but bare in mind that the cost and stress of taking legal action against her rather than focusing on winning those customers back might make the entire thing rather pointless.

Glaucus · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:10

OldCoals said:
I don't think you can restrict someone employment can you after they leave?

http://www.jobjustice.co.uk/?leaving-soon/employment-contract-issues.html

There are four main types of restrictive covenant that are found in employment contracts:

Non-compete clauses – These clauses are intended to prevent former employees from directly competing with their former employers, either by forming a new competing company or by working for a competitor. The clauses usually restrict the employer from competing within a certain geographical location and for a specified time.

Non-solicitation clauses – These clauses prevent former employees from soliciting their former employer’s customers. They usually prevent the employee from entering into a contract to supply or receive goods or services with customers of the employer for a limited period of time.

Non-poaching of employee clauses – These clauses are intended to prevent former employees from encouraging their former colleagues to leave their employer and work for them instead.

Restricted use of confidential information clauses – These clauses prevent the employee from using or repeating confidential information they were privy to when they worked for their former employer.

Your employer must ensure that these clauses in your contract of employment are reasonable and are only there to protect their legitimate business interests.

Django x2 · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:11

No, but I do know off hand, if that helps......

ethan · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:12

Biohazard said:
I take it you have a signed copy of the original contract of employment?

I would seek redress, I'm not sure how you will make an example of her however.

The other workers will be less likely to "steal" our clients if they see me seeking redress from from one of their ex-collegues.

[FnG]magnolia · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:12

CAB or a solicitor versed in Employment Law would both be better choices than General Discussion of a computing forum, trainee solicitors posting here or not.

jaybee · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:13

Well basically you need to see a Solicitor. How many times do we say that on these forums. It's true though OP. You are completely entitled to sue yes and it's a big issue stealing company customer data. Did you put her on garden leave as soon as she was dismissed/made redundant? At our place people that are in sales and that deal with our clients are instantly put on it without a chance to prepare and take data from systems.

ethan · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:13

There are four main types of restrictive covenant that are found in employment contracts:

Non-compete clauses – These clauses are intended to prevent former employees from directly competing with their former employers, either by forming a new competing company or by working for a competitor. The clauses usually restrict the employer from competing within a certain geographical location and for a specified time.

Non-solicitation clauses – These clauses prevent former employees from soliciting their former employer’s customers. They usually prevent the employee from entering into a contract to supply or receive goods or services with customers of the employer for a limited period of time.

Non-poaching of employee clauses – These clauses are intended to prevent former employees from encouraging their former colleagues to leave their employer and work for them instead.

Restricted use of confidential information clauses – These clauses prevent the employee from using or repeating confidential information they were privy to when they worked for their former employer.

Your employer must ensure that these clauses in your contract of employment are reasonable and are only there to protect their legitimate business interests.

Quite so, she has broken all of these.

ethan · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:15

jaybee said:
Well basically you need to see a Solicitor. How many times do we say that on these forums. It's true though OP. You are completely entitled to sue yes and it's a big issue stealing company customer data. Did you put her on garden leave as soon as she was dismissed/made redundant? At our place people that are in sales and that deal with our clients are instantly put on it without a chance to prepare and take data from systems.

She didn't even complete her contractual obligation to provide two weeks notice so she is in breach of that also.

Biohazard · 4 Jul 2011 at 23:15

ethan said:
The other workers will be less likely to "steal" our clients if they see me seeking redress from from one of their ex-collegues.

Fair enough, I did muse on that but it will depend on your success if it works.

ethan said:
Quite so, she has broken all of these.

You had all those clauses in the contract?

Should have it covered then.