Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Ohio

Re: lost contracts

I will assume that your employee was not part of a Union and that there was no written employment contract. If that assumption is correct, then this person is called an "employee at will." What that means is that you have the legal right to terminate that person's employment for no reason at all -- or for any lawful reason. So, if your question asked whether it was lawful to terminate the employee, the answer is probably "YES."

If you question is whether it is lawful for the employee to use your time and customer base to set up a competing business, the answer is probably "NO." I say "probably" because the true answer is very fact specific and I would need to know a lot more than the information provided in your question.

The only way to stop this person from using your confidential information to start a competing business is to file a lawsuit and seek injuctive relief. This is a complex legal issue, and not one you could do on your own. If you would like to discuss it further, give me a call.

Richard A. Cline