Employee Poaching & Non-Compete Agreements

posted by Jonathan Pollard  |  Aug 7, 2014 11:10 PM [EST]  |  applies to Florida

This is the post related to employee poaching or raiding and non-compete agreements.  This discussion addresses the widespread use of non-compete agreements in today’s economy, issues related to contractual choice of law and challenging choice of law and precautionary measures companies can take when hiring away employees of rivals.

Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in non-compete litigation.  This is not anecdotal— it is statistical.  Numerous analyses of court dockets at the federal and state level have confirmed that non-compete litigation is more common now that it was a decade ago.  In previous posts, I have offered my assessment of the factors driving this increase.  Regardless of the reasons behind the uptick in non-compete litigation, that is the reality of the current market.

In light of this, companies must be mindful of the risks attendant to hiring away talent from industry rivals.  In recent months, I have heard the terms employee poaching and raiding thrown around.  In my view, hiring away one or two employees does not rise to the level of employee poaching or raiding.  But hiring whole teams of employees does.  Regardless, when hiring away talent from a competitor, companies must be cognizant of the risks and must approach the undertaking in a manner that is strategic and methodical.

You can find detail discussion with Florida Non-compete lawyer Jonathan Pollard in the video at pollardllc.com