You just hired someone from a competitor. You’re excited. They’re excited.
But you may have bought yourself a lawsuit.
Can you avoid it? Maybe.
The competitor won’t be happy, and you can bet that they will be watching like a hawk to see if the employee violates their obligations.
Failure of the employee to comply with any post-employment obligations, whether statutory (e.g., trade secret laws) or contractual (e.g., noncompete, nonsolicit, and no-recruit), can be the trigger for an otherwise avoidable lawsuit.
So, what should you do?
Make sure the employee understands their duties to their former employer. We have these conversations with employees on a regular basis, explaining to them how to think about and avoid the common, avoidable mistakes that employees often make with respect to their former employer’s confidential information, customers, and employees.
It takes time. But the basics can be easily explained in 15 minutes.
So we have packaged our best advice to new employees in a quick and scalable training video: Avoiding Mistakes When Starting A New Job.
The point of the video is to provide employees with a quick, easy-to-understand set of guidelines for how to think about the common mistakes and how to avoid them.
With the rise of employer v. employee lawsuits and the flurry of post-pandemic hiring, the need for this type of training has never been so great.
Like our other practical resources, including our 50 state noncompete chart, the video is intended as an educational tool and is made available for free.
We are, however, limiting distribution of the video to our clients and, upon request, to select companies.
Please contact me if you would like the link.