Legal Question in Employment Law in Minnesota

Prevented from Working

I have a question about some questionable employment practices at the company I work for. The company is called Acosta, and is a grocery broker; this means that we act as a sales force on behalf of major manufacturers (such as Minute Maid or Heinz) - these companies are called ''principals'' in broker-speak.

Basically, I have found out, after working here for about a year, that my company has agreements with, as far as I can tell, every principal that it works with as well as the major syndicated data providers in the industry to prevent these companies from hiring anybody away from Acosta. Because Acosta represents so many different companies (I would estimate over half of major grocery manufacturers), this effectively prevents me from leaving Acosta and getting work elsewhere in the same industry. On two separate occasions, I have been approached by companies interested in possibly hiring me. I know that I was considered to be a strong candidate in both of these cases, but, after checking with the HR departments at their companies, the individuals who contacted me told me that they had agreements in place with Acosta that prevented them from hiring me.

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