Apple Sued For Poaching Engineers From Battery Maker A123

[mitchellvii7]

This is America and these are employees not slaves. If A123 wants to keep their people from being poached they should be a better company.

I'm no expert on business law, but the issue of non-compete agreements has been raised several times, in this thread. There's also the fact that A123 probably wouldn't be trying to sue Apple, unless it thought it had a reasonable case, and I've even witnessed first-hand a case where my employer threatened to sue a company that several employees went to. It wasn't even a competitor. The other company seemed to take the threat seriously, since it agreed not to hire any more of my coworkers.

So, I'd say that, when it comes to legal matters, it doesn't help to assert what you idealistically wish to be the case. Before you make any claims (or especially, take any action), first do a bit of research.

"Do a bit of research"? Ok, how about this. I've been an EXECUTIVE RECRUITER for 30 years and have never once seen a lawsuit of this nature won by a plaintiff. The reason is that employees are not slaves. Believe me, I've heard all the threats and even seen a lawsuit or two filed but in the end was all just hot air. The purpose of the lawsuit was to scare away the suitor not to win damages.

Now if there is breach of contract or confidentiality agreements involved, that is an entirely different story as it involved contract law. There may even be a case if it could be proven there was malicious intent to destroy a competitor's business, but that's hard to prove. I once recruited 2/3rds of a major bank's SF tax staff away to a competitor simply because they were woefully underpaid. The VP stamped his feet, swore at me and threatened to sue. Nothing came of it because he went to his legal staff and they told him he had no case.

Depends on the State, but non-compete clauses usually aren't worth the paper they're written on. Once again, employees are not slaves and you as an employer do not have the right to block their personal choices. Companies own ideas, not people. They can sue you for taking only what belongs to them.

Regardless, my 30 years of actual experience outweighs the 5 minutes you spent Googling the subject. At least you were right about one thing - you are no expert on business law.

P.S., You know why employers almost never sue and have never pressed Congress for legislation to prevent poaching? Because they do the same thing.