CraigJ
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 01:32 PM |
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Any employment legal people on here
Just looking for a bit of advise.
I left my job to go self employed 8 months ago. There are covenants in my contract preventing me from soliciting. This is the only covenant that
affects me. I have behaved myself and not approached any customers. There is NO non compete though which means if the customers approach me I'm
free to carry out work and this is how I have been running my business so far. I have 4 months to go until I can approach customers for work. I have
plenty of advertising as well as a website so its very easy for customers to find me and it helps that there are very few people that do what I do.
when I first left, my ex employer had the solicitors onto me accusing me of soliciting customers. I had carried out work for the customer but they had
contacted me and this does not breach the covenants and this was shown to there solicitors by my solicitor. This was dropped and I heard nothing for 6
months. I have now received new solicitors letters on behalf of my ex employer accusing me again of soliciting the same customers. The letter is
asking me to admit lol.
Now I know they are fishing as I have not done anything wrong. But this is beginning to wee me off. Can they keep harassing me like this?
I presume that they cant get an injunction with out being able to prove anything or will a judge just do it anyway then ask for proof after?
Are there any cease and desist type templates around that I can make fit my needs that pretty much tell them to do one and not contact me unless they
have proof?
I do not want to sue or get into any legal battle I just want to be left alone.
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femster87
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 02:12 PM |
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Go see your solicitor again. I am not one for being too cautious. But in this case, they can run you down with this kind of things. I think they are
trying to frustrate you. Don't get into an argument. Just prove your point.
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Brook_lands
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 03:14 PM |
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This is not really an employment law question but a contact law question.
First of all, law is not about being right or wrong and has little to do with justice. It is about winning on the evidence so the biggest thing is to
try and keep all emotion out of it. I know that is difficult when it feels like a personal attack but a lot of civil action is about rattling the
other side and getting them to give in, the last thing they want is for it to go to court because at that stage no one except the solicitors will win
(financially).
Yes an injunction could be obtained on the thinnest of evidence and you would then have to get that overturned but from what you have written
I'm not sure what injunction would be for.
You need to be very precise about the facts.
As I read your post you have a legal agreement in place with your ex employer preventing you from contacting your ex employer's customers and
asking them for work for a period of 12 months from the time you left employment with your ex employer.
Your ex employer accused you of breaking this agreement some time ago but then backed off.
Your ex employer has now accused you again of breaking the agreement but your post suggests that the accusation is related to the same customer(s) as
before. Is this a new accusation or a continuation of the previous one? Is it referring to the same customer(s) or different ones?
If the customer(s) referred to are happy to write a statement to the effect that they approached you and asked you to do work for them (each time you
did work for them) and that you didn't approach them then its game over.
As you have not said what the nature of the business is or how repeat work is obtained, if they approached you the first time and asked you to do
work, but you have since contacted them to ask about further work/ repeat business because then the agreement has probably been broken.
Much will depend on the value of the work your ex employer thinks you have taken off them and how much you are hurting their business. A
solicitor's letter will cost them a few quid or nothing at all if they have a solicitor on retainer. Getting involved in civil court action will
cost a whole lot more and is something of a lottery.
It could be just that they want to cause you some pain, or they could be serious.
It is a pain but start recording everything, time spent, communications with customers etc. if it goes in front of a Judge the more
"evidence" you have the more credible you will appear and the better your chance of winning. When you do win you can then put in a claim
for your costs including your time spent on the case at £19 per hour.
The first thing is to write back rebutting everything they say (if it is untrue, but never lie), in law if you don't challenge something then it
is deemed that you accept it.
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CraigJ
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 04:12 PM |
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Yes it is over the same customers. the work I do is diagnostic and repair. So you only get work when something breaks.
At no point have I asked any of them for work. I have only approached a few customers and these are new customers so not covered by the non solicit
clause.
I replied to the letter I got by email stating that no Soliciting had taken place. and pretty much left it at that.
I cant see there been a problem with the customers providing statements to confirm i didn't contact them.
Also is there any reason why they would use a different solicitors this time, I would have thought it would make sense to use the same company?
My former employer is a world wide company with thousands of employees and a turn over in the hundreds of millions. I'm 1 bloke in a van so
hardly a threat to there profits.
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 05:07 PM |
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A friend of mine is an independent financial adviser - he used to work for a company, but then set up for himself. There was a similar clause in place
in his contract and he too was chased about poaching clients. Letters from his clients (including me) stating that they'd chosen to follow him
and he had not approached them soon solved the problem.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 05:22 PM |
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I will be watching this with interest. After changing jobs no more than 3 weeks ago, I got a contact through Linkedin from someone I had done some
work for. I too agreed to six months 'not poaching', but there's nothing I can do if they want to approach my new company to enlist
my skills. For a start I'll keep that first linkedin message!
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big-vee-twin
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 05:36 PM |
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Usually covenants don't stand up when tested in law, there is an overriding European law which says you cannot prevent people from working.
Sometimes when they do stand up which is rare they last a maximum of 6 months.
Having fought and experienced these accusations I can sympathise.
What I did was find the best employment law solicitor I could, paid him for three hours work at a cost of nearly 1000 pounds and the problem went away
very quickley!
Duratec Engine is fitted, MS2 Extra V3 is assembled and tested, engine running, car now built. IVA passed 26/02/2016
http://www.triangleltd.com
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Theshed
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| posted on 13/12/15 at 08:30 PM |
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This area of law is how I earn car tokens.
With respect to some folks trying to be helpful there is little written above that is in any way accurate. Or at least sufficiently so to rely
upon.
There is a fine line between soliciting and advertising, Targeted advertising is without doubt soliciting. Website....probably not.
It is impossible to give useful advice without seeing the contract and the correspondence. This is a difficult area of law - there is no
"European law" giving a right to work. I strongly suggest that you go back to a competent solicitor and seek advice. Asking for advice
here is a dodgy as DIY brain surgery! My last injunction was against somebody who asserted my clients did not have a leg to stand on and sent a text
with a short message and 3 smiley faces - costs of £26,000 followed.....oops.
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nick205
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| posted on 14/12/15 at 09:02 AM |
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As mentioned, proper advice from a solicitor is what you need here. It will cost you money, but could prove the legal footing for any dispute you may
face. Probably not ideal advice, but I'd also be careful as companies can be difficult at times.
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