Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Working for competitors simulatenously

read bryan's answer and multiply by 5 --- how did you think you could get away with that and id it smells like a fish then your potientially in big ca ca!!!! just call them as i see them and withj soooooo little facts but all bad you need a good lawyer yesterday ---- I have been practicing law in the San Francisco Bay area for approximately 35 years and expert in the area in the category in which your question is placed. I feel I can help you in this matter and if you wish to consult with me please contact me at 925-945- 6000.

Re: Working for competitors simulatenously

The legal theories under which you might be in trouble would include:

1. Breach of contract - you don't say whether you are an employee or an independent contractor, but in either case there is either an express (written or oral) or an implied (in fact or in law) contract governing your relationship with each employer. Whether these contracts contain any provision restricting your right to work for a competitor may depend upon your status. Employee contracts would usually expressly or impliedly forbid such employment. On the other hand, one of the hallmarks or tests of independent contractor status is the contractor's practice of having multiple clients.

2. Misappropriation of trade secrets. Some states have a doctrine of "inevitable disclosure," a legal principle which says that, as a practical matter, if someone knows the trade secrets of X and works for Y, a direct competitor, the worker will inevitably use the trade secrets in a way that harms X. The principle recognizes that it's unlikely anyone with knowledge of how to solve a problem would fail to use that knowledge, in some way, in order to do well as Y's employee. The inevitable disclosure rule is not the law of California (at least I think it is not), at least with respect to successive employment, but I think inevitable disclosure could be argued successfully by one employer's attorney or the other in a case over simultaneous employment.

3, 4. Depending upon the nature and commercial sensitivity of the work you were doing, there could be other legal theories one or the other of the employers could level at you, such as breach of a duty to disclose (i.e. misrepresentation, a species of fraud) or breach of a fiduciary duty of loyalty (more likely to be a problem if you were an officer or director than a a lower level, although it could apply to a top scientist, I suppose).

Without more facts, it's hard to speculate on your risks here. Most likely, you'll just be fired by one or both. At the fringes, there's a small possibility both employers would consent to the dual employment, or, on the other hand, that you'll be both fired and sued under one or more of the above theories.