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chle124

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? SC

I was working for company a who had a no compete clause associated with it. I applied with company b which was a competitor. I was offered a job with.company b in which I accepted. I worked two days when I realized it would not work out for me. I informed my manager that I didn't like it and didn't want to tie up their resources in me any longer because it wasn't going to work out. I returned to work for.company A until company B called and told them I had interviewed and accepted a position for two days with them. Thus I was suspended and then terminated from company A. On my application with company B, I stated that I did not want them to contact company A. Do I have any rights here or is it sour grapes
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
I'm not even sure it is sour grapes, let alone anythign illegal. The companies are allowed to talk to each other. Absent a contract or some CBU, they're free to fire you just like you were free to go running off quitting.
 

quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? SC

I was working for company a who had a no compete clause associated with it. I applied with company b which was a competitor. I was offered a job with.company b in which I accepted. I worked two days when I realized it would not work out for me. I informed my manager that I didn't like it and didn't want to tie up their resources in me any longer because it wasn't going to work out. I returned to work for.company A until company B called and told them I had interviewed and accepted a position for two days with them. Thus I was suspended and then terminated from company A. On my application with company B, I stated that I did not want them to contact company A. Do I have any rights here or is it sour grapes

You say you had a non-compete agreement with Company A and yet you still went to work for a competing business, Company B.

By communicating with Company A, Company B actually might have saved itself a lawsuit filed against it by Company A (tortious interference with contractual relations), this if Company B can show it was unaware when hiring you that you had a non-compete agreement with Company A.

You might not only not be able to collect unemployment, you could be sued by Company A for breach of contract.

You should read your agreement with Company A (or have an attorney in your area personally review it) to see what sort of mess you might have gotten yourself into. The specific terms of the contract matter, and the specific facts about your type of employment with both Companies A and B matter, and the specific facts about Company B (its location, etc) matter.
 

chle124

Junior Member
reply

Company B knew about the no.compete clause. Their approach was that they wouldn't send me to any of my former customers for a full year so that the non compete wouldn't come up. It became a issue after I left company b after two days and they called company a
 

eerelations

Senior Member
Your termination is still perfectly legal. Employers are legally free to terminate their employees for pretty much any reason at all, except a reason specifically prohibited by law (such as your race, gender, disability, religion and/or age). Company A did not fire you for a reason prohibited by law, ergo your termination was legal.

Regarding Company B communicating with Company A, just because you told Company B not to talk to Company A does not mean Company B had any legal obligation to not talk to Company A. You made a request and Company B decided not to honour that request; no legal violations here either.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Company B knew about the no.compete clause. Their approach was that they wouldn't send me to any of my former customers for a full year so that the non compete wouldn't come up. It became a issue after I left company b after two days and they called company a

Company B's "approach" to the non-compete provision in your contract with Company A may not be enough to prevent a lawsuit then. The wording of your non-compete agreement with Company A would need to be reviewed (as would the factors I mentioned earlier).

Because it appears from what you have written that you could have violated the non-compete agreement by going to work for a competitor, this could be a factor if you decide to file for unemployment. Unemployment benefits are not, in other words, a given for you.
 

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