Employee Poaching & Non-Compete Agreements

posted by Jonathan Pollard  |  Aug 12, 2014 08:24 AM [EST]  |  applies to Florida

Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in non-compete litigation.  This is not anecdotal— it is statistical.  State and federal court dockets confirmed that non-compete litigation is more common now that it was a decade ago.  

I have written on PollardLLC.com about my assessment of the factors driving this increase. Now, I address the topic of employee "poaching" or "raiding," and how recruiting a competitor's employees can be affected by non-compete agreements.  This discussion acknowledges the widespread use of non-compete agreements in today’s economy, and analyzes contractual choice of law options and precautionary measures companies can take when hiring away employees of rivals.

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

posted by Jonathan Pollard  |  Aug 12, 2014 08:24 AM [EST]  |  applies to Florida