Piracy laws

An ex-employee has been coming in to our place of business trying to recruit current employees for her new employer. Her method includes bad mouthing our company up to and including bringing applications in for our employees to complete for her new employer. What are the piracy laws regarding this kind of situation?

1 answer  |  asked Sep 22, 2006 12:22 PM [EST]  |  applies to Pennsylvania

Answers (1)

Christopher Ezold
She may not trespass, but there is no general law against soliciting employees.

Before I respond to your inquiry, I must state that we have not spoken, I have not reviewed the relevant documents and facts, and I do not represent you. Therefore, my discussion below is not a legal opinion, but is informational only. Finally, my discussion applies only to issues to which Pennsylvania or Federal law apply, unless otherwise specified.

That being said, she may not trespass, but there is no general law against soliciting employees. She has no right to be on her former employer's property; she should be advised that she is prohibited from coming on the property, and if she does, the police should be called.

Generally, only a non-solicitation agreement can prevent solicitation of employees. However, if the solicitation is part of a plan to drive the employer out of business, or to impropely interfere with the business, there is a small chance that the employer may have an unfair trade practices claim against her or her employer. Without significant factual backup, such a claim is highly unlikely to exist, however.

If you would like to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact me at the below address(es) or number.

/Christopher E. Ezold/
Nancy O'Mara Ezold, P.C.
One Belmont Avenue,
Suite 501
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
(610) 660-5585
Cezold@Ezoldlaw.com

posted by Christopher Ezold  |  Sep 22, 2006 12:33 PM [EST]

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