Employment Law
Watch out for Non-Hire and Anti-Poaching Agreements!
You are the CEO of Company A, a cutting-edge developer of new software. Over golf (or sushi), you agree with the CEO of equally advanced Company B that each of you will not hire or try to hire away the other’s top talent through an anti-poaching agreement. Is anything wrong with this? Yes! The Sherman […]
Non-Compete 101
Throughout your professional career, you may have signed a non-compete. But, if you haven't yet, now is an excellent time to learn about these common and important documents. Typically, you'll receive a non-compete agreement when you start a new job. Your temptation may be to skim the pages without paying attention to the details or […]
The 7 Types of Restrictive Covenants to Know
Post-employment restrictive covenants in PA come in multiple varieties. But the non-compete covenant is the most burdensome of all. Most people have heard, and are likely familiar with, the term non-compete, which is one type of restrictive covenant. It's not uncommon for an employer to ask an employee to sign a non-compete clause, which limits […]
Restrictive Covenant Enforcement
Obtaining an employee's signature on a post-employment restriction is simpler than restrictive covenant enforcement. By the way, I detailed the 7 types of restrictive covenants in this post. For example, the former is like a level road with a few curves; the latter is like a twisting mountain highway. Consequently, courts do not view post-employment […]
What is Garden Leave?
Garden Leave Allows Some Protection for an Employer The term sounds pastoral, but its use is practical. For example, garden leave is an agreed-upon period when an employer pays a departing key employee not to work before the employee joins a competitor. In essence, it's another type of restrictive covenant. Originating in England, the employee […]
Non-Solicitation Agreements- The Third Rail of Employee Mobility Law
When an ex-employee works for a competitor, the violation of a non-compete covenant is clear-cut. But few employment contracts define what it means to "solicit." What is a non-solicitation agreement? As a restrictive covenant, non-solicitation agreements prevent a departing employee from soliciting the old employer's customers or workforce to do business or work with a […]
US Supreme Court Limits Scope of Computer Fraud Law
On June 3, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision on the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”). Van Buren v. United States, _ U.S. __, 141 S. Ct. 1648, 2021 WL 2229206, 2021 U.S. Lexis 2843. The Court held that the CFAA prohibited only the gathering of information […]
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Invalidates No-Hire Contracts
In 2018, I blogged about the Pennsylvania Superior Court decision in Pittsburgh Logistics Services v. Beemac Trucking, LLC, invalidating a no-hire contract between two transportation firms. Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court. See Pittsburgh Logistics Systems, Inc. v. Beemac Trucking, LLC, _ A.3d , 2021 WL __, 2021 Pa. Lexis […]
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
For business owners, minimizing the risk of civil liability is one of the most effective ways to avoid impacting your profitability by unnecessary lawsuits. A sexual harassment lawsuit by an employee can result in a substantial award paid by the employer. In 2019, Employers paid out a record $68.2 million through the Equal Employment Opportunity […]
Offensive Social Media Posts by Pennsylvania Employees Justify Termination
“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” our parents told us. Two recent Pennsylvania employment termination cases give this same advice to adult social media users. In both cases, courts upheld terminations for employees’ mean-spirited off-duty social media comments. In Carr v. Commonwealth, 230 A.3d 1075 (Pa. 2020), a PennDOT employee […]