A recent decision in Denver District Court, Business Network Consulting v. Perkins, demonstrates the risks taken by aggressive employers when they seek to impose restrictions on a former employee that aren’t set forth in any written agreement.
BNC, a computer consulting company, sprung into action when it learned that one of its customers had offered a job to its former employee, Perkins. BNC contacted its customer and threatened litigation even though the customer had never signed BNC’s form contract that barred customers from hiring BNC’s employees for a limited time after an employee left BNC. Reluctant to get involved in litigation, the customer conferred with Perkins about BNC’s threats and Perkins elected not to go to work for the customer. The customer then reached a settlement with BNC under which the customer disclosed its communications with the employee and agreed not to employ Perkins for several years.