4 ms·

Are non-solicitation agreements between companies illegal? I'm guessing blacklisting people is illegal, but is not actively soliciting employees illegal? (I'm

Are non-solicitation agreements between companies illegal? I'm guessing blacklisting people is illegal, but is not actively soliciting employees illegal? (I'm not commenting on morality here, just legality.) My last employer had a non-solicitation agreement in place with partner companies they were working with. Is that illegal, I wonder?

kasey_junk 13y ago
Was the agreement between the employers or between the employees? In some jurisdictions it is completely fine to have non-compete agreements and they very often are used to prevent vendor/customer poaching.
- csbrooks 13y ago
  It was between the employers, who were also working together on business projects. They asked us to help enforce it, by telling them if a recruiter reached out to us from one of our partners. Felt questionable to me.
  - talmand 13y ago
    It probably varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but in many cases a non-compete agreement is between the employer and the employee. Meaning that you can't quit one company to go work for a competitor. Most of the time the reasoning is because you may know trade secrets that you then may share with the company's competitor, which may be why they hired you away. Sometimes these agreements hold up in court and sometimes not. A non-compete agreement between your employer and another company without your consent or input will likely not hold up in court and could be illegal depending on local laws.
tehwalrus 13y ago
Conspiring to keep wages down is. Non-solicitation agreements are an action that, while not illegal in themselves, in some circumstances would constitute the larger offence.
Jochim 13y ago
I believe the illegality is centered around conspiring to lower wages, the guys suing are claiming that this was achieved through the non-solicitation agreement. I can see how this could be the case, especially when it looks like the biggest tech employers in silicon valley were all in on it. A few companies or companies in different areas agreeing not to poach won't affect the average wage, but when the majority of positions aren't being contested the incentive to offer larger wages drops.
Zigurd 13y ago
In the case of a contracting shop, the contracted employee is a party to such an agreement. They can choose not to be. It's like an agency agreement.

kasey_junk 13y ago

Was the agreement between the employers or between the employees? In some jurisdictions it is completely fine to have non-compete agreements and they very often are used to prevent vendor/customer poaching.

csbrooks 13y ago
It was between the employers, who were also working together on business projects. They asked us to help enforce it, by telling them if a recruiter reached out to us from one of our partners. Felt questionable to me.
- talmand 13y ago
  It probably varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but in many cases a non-compete agreement is between the employer and the employee. Meaning that you can't quit one company to go work for a competitor. Most of the time the reasoning is because you may know trade secrets that you then may share with the company's competitor, which may be why they hired you away. Sometimes these agreements hold up in court and sometimes not. A non-compete agreement between your employer and another company without your consent or input will likely not hold up in court and could be illegal depending on local laws.

tehwalrus 13y ago

Conspiring to keep wages down is. Non-solicitation agreements are an action that, while not illegal in themselves, in some circumstances would constitute the larger offence.

Jochim 13y ago

I believe the illegality is centered around conspiring to lower wages, the guys suing are claiming that this was achieved through the non-solicitation agreement. I can see how this could be the case, especially when it looks like the biggest tech employers in silicon valley were all in on it. A few companies or companies in different areas agreeing not to poach won't affect the average wage, but when the majority of positions aren't being contested the incentive to offer larger wages drops.

Zigurd 13y ago

In the case of a contracting shop, the contracted employee is a party to such an agreement. They can choose not to be. It's like an agency agreement.