Workers corresponding with former colleagues via social networking sites may be violating non-compete, non-disclosure and non-solicit employment agreements should a Minnesota federal District Court lawsuit have any precedent. In a suit filed March 16, technical staffing firm TEKsystems claimed plaintiffs breached contract terms and misappropriated and misused confidential information when reaching out to past co-workers on LinkedIn.
Nilan Johnson Lewis employment attorneys Sandra Jezierski and Megan Backer, who are not involved in the case, say the lawsuit raises big questions in employment law in a social media world. Do individuals have to “un-friend” colleagues and clients upon exiting an organization? How liberally can solicitation be applied to forums like LinkedIn that primarily emphasize professional networking? And are social networking correspondence and content likely to be divulged as part of litigation discovery? Jezierski and Backer, whose preventive and litigation counsel includes drafting and advising employers regarding settlement , non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disparagement agreements, all of which potentially involve social media, say the case is particularly pertinent to companies with significant intellectual property assets, sales or customer relations interfaces or heavy turnover risk, particularly with executives. In such instances, the lawyers recommend employers specify in their employee handbooks and non-compete agreements that wrongful contact includes electronic as well as traditional communication.
