Legal Question in Business Law in Kentucky

Agreement Not to Solicit Employees

I work for an employer who supplier many other companies with a service. The account that I work on has a contract with my employer, and one of the items in the contract reads the following:

''Each party agrees that during the term of this Agreement, and for three years after the termination of this Agreement, whether such termination is voluntary or involuntary, the parties will not directly or indirectly, or through any person or entity, hire or solicit for hire, any employee of the other party or otherwise persuade or cause any employee to discontinue working for the other party, without first obtaining such other party's prior written approval.''

The problem is, that I was not aware of this agreement when joining the company, nor was I asked to sign a non compete contract.

Is my employer under any obligation to inform me of this clause in the contract before hiring me, or at any point during my employment?

I am asking because I was recently approached about a position with our current customer (the terms of the contract were not clear to them). When my current employer found out about their interest in me, they told the customer that they did not have permission to talk to me.

Can they do that?


Asked on 4/26/07, 10:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gregory Napier Troutman & Napier, PLLC

Re: Agreement Not to Solicit Employees

The contract is between the two companies and so there was no duty to inform you, since you are not a party to the contract. If you made your employer aware that you only took the job because there was no non-compete contracts and they failed to tell you, there might have been some liability - but who does that? Nobody.

Whether or not they can expect the interested company to not contact you is dependent on the contract. The interested company can always breach the contract and be willing to pay damages if any are forthcoming. Without reviewing the actual contract, there is nothing else I can advise about the situation.

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Answered on 4/27/07, 2:58 pm


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