Smooth Transitions : Rob Radcliff : Texas Non-Compete Lawyer & Attorney : Langley Weinstein LLP Law Firm : Dallas Employment & Employee Departures : Smooth Transitions Law Blog

Minnesota based TEKsystems Inc. sued three former employees for violating non-compete and non-solicit agreements.  TEKSystems is in the technical recruiting business and it claims one of the former employees was contacting its contract employees.  The complaint alleges Defendant Brelyn Hammernik used LinkedIn to solicit these employees:

For example, Hammernik has communicated with at least 20 of TEKsystems’ Contract Employees using such electronic networking systems as “Linkedin.”  Hammernik has, at a minimum, “connected” with the following TEKsystems’ employees through “Linkedin" . . . In her contacts with Tom Peterson, Hammernick asked Peterson if he was “still looking for opportunities.” She then stated that she “would love to have [you] come visit my new office and hear about some of the stuff we are working on.”

Evidence doesn't get much better then this LinkedIn email:

Linkedln

Tom Peterson has sent you a message.

Date: 12/08/2009

Subject: RE: Brelyn

 

Hi Brelyn,

Indeed I am still looking. I have time, though!

Lets get together. Where are you working these days? Your profile still has you working at TEK Systems. BTW - my email address is lipidfish@gmail.com if you would prefer the non-Linkedln route.

Tom

 

On 12/08/09 8:47 AM, Brelyn Hammernik wrote:

Tom—

Hey! Let me know if you are still looking for opportunities! I would love to have come visit my new office and hear about some of the stuff we are working on!

Let me know your thoughts!

Brelyn

Needless to say it will be very difficult for Hammernik to defend this type of conduct.  I've used emails in non-compete/non-solicit cases but never LinkedIn evidence.  As individuals migrate from company to company they routinely use LinkedIn and other social networking sites to update contacts on their whereabouts.  Usually, most updates don't contain an outright solicitation like this. The moral of this story:  Employees - be smart about communications that are blatant solicitations.  Employers - watch former employees social networking activities once they have departed.

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Seventy percent of participating U.S. employers indicated they had rejected a job applicant based on their on line profile in a recent Microsoft survey.  U.S. employers were well ahead of the UK, Germany, and France:

The study found that employers' scrutiny focused on concerns about the applicant's lifestyle, inappropriate comments by the candidate, and unsuitable pictures and video:

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After filing a lawsuit against Texas Tech and then being fired, Mike Leach relocated to Florida and continued with his breach of contract lawsuit.  The amended petition (or complaint from those outside of Texas) sheds a little more light on the facts giving rise to his firing and claims.  

Last week, the depositions of Leach, Craig James, and Adams James took place in Lubbock, Texas.  Coincidentally or not coincidentally, depending on your perspective, video of Leach's expletive fueled ripping of his players was released before the deposition. 

We'll keep you posted on developments in the case.  Leach is looking for money and odds are, like with 95% of all cases, the matter will settle.  No question that Leach is one of the more colorful coaches in football and no question that there are a few people at Tech that don't like him. 

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Different companies have different and evolving social media policies that hopefully are tailored to the companies' business but below are some social media commandments that most every employee should follow. Here is a start:

(1) Assume everything you post is being read by your boss, supervisor, and grandmother.  The point is once content, updates, posts, pictures etc., are released into cyberspace, they cannot be retrieved.

(2) Don't badmouth your customers, company, coworkers or your boss.  Seems like a common sense proposition but some think their on line content is somehow insulated from their work life, it is not.

(3) Think about who you friend or follow.  You can tell a lot about people based on who they are friends with on Facebook or who they follow on twitter.  That's not necessarily a good or bad thing but how much do you want to reveal about yourself?   Do you really need to be friends with your boss or subordinates?

(4) Common Sense - use it.  Most issues can be avoided by simply using a little common sense.

What would you include?

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