Customer poaching

[KellySmith83]

Good afternoon all

I am looking for some advice and any would be gratefully received. We are a small gardening company and a staff member is working their final week this week, other staff members have advised that while at customers houses, he has been advising them that he is leaving and would be happy to do their garden for a reduced rate. He has signed a non-solicitation clause in his contact.

What are our next steps here?

Many thanks

 

[ethical PR]

There's only a point having a non solicitation clause in your contract if you are willing and able to enforce it - which tends to expensive and time consuming.

And you only have hearsay to go on - unless these staff are willing to put their claims in writing.

I would tend to put the staff member on gardening leave (no pun intended) for the rest of the work and remind him in writing of the non solicitation clause (if of course you had this drawn up based on legal advice and it's enforceable)..

Rather than taking legal action, concentrate on making your service the best that it can be - I'm sure you base your service on factors other than the cost. You don't want customers that decide to use a service purely based on price.

 

[john1989]

Your first step should be to put them on gardening leave. This will stop them having dealings with your customers for the rest of the week - but no good if he knows your regular clients anyway.

There might also be scope for instant dismissal.

No idea how to proceed with the non-solicitation clause, sorry.

@Newchodge might be along shortly to give some useful input.

 

[Gecko001]

One possible remedy is to get a solicitor to get a court injunction preventing the staff member from any further solicitation. You probably would need firm proof that solicitation has taken place though. As others have said, you have to be prepared to enforce these type of clauses if you have them in a contract. I would seek legal advice on the matter to see what you can, and probably more importantly, what you cannot do.

 

[KellySmith83]

Thank you all so much for your valuable advice, very much appreciated.

 

[SamWhittle]

Do you have a non solicitation clause in the employment contract? Furthermore do you have a non solicit clause beyond the point of employment? This would also only really be enforceable if it covered a reasonable scope, time and geographical location. EU law takes a dim view on restrictions of trade, so it needs to be fair and reasonable.

 

[ethical PR]

Sam if you read the OPs post you will see that he states\;

'He has signed a non-solicitation clause in his contact'.

 

[SamWhittle]

Sorry my mistake, misread it.

 

[SamWhittle]

The other aspects of my post still stand regardless of the non solicitation clause.