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Letter from former employers lawyer -

G

GeorgiaBadger

Member
Dear GB,

Your statement that "all company property has been returned" is simply not accurate. After your termination of employment, very little company property was actually returned to the company. For example, we did not receive back your copy of the Employee Handbook or any orders processed or pending while you were employed by the company. The database which you maintained on the company computer, was essentially blank. No one authorized you to eliminate your database. No one authorized you to professionally sanitize the hard drive which we know was done in your case. The information contained in that database is the property on the company and a trade secret of the company. Your obligation to the company was to return their property, including the database, not to copy it and pretend it never existed.

Even more disturbing is the fact that we have been advised that your are competing directly against the company. Specifically, you have contacted XYZ company which is a customer of the company. In my earlier letter to you, I reminded you of your obligations not to compete against the company. It now appears that was your intent from the day that you left the company because you lied as to the identity of your next employer.

The company takes the provisions of its Employee Handbook, as well as the Agreement Not To Compete And/Or Disclose Trade Secrets very seriously. If you continue to violate those commitments that you made to the company, you will find out very quickly how seriously these matters are treated by the company. Specifically, we will file suit against you in XYZ county, Ohio and obtain injunctive relief enjoining you from violating the terms of your employment with the company. We will also ask for attorneys fees and punitive damages since you are knowingly violating the terms of your employment with the company. Please consider this letter our final written demand for the return of all company property and your compliance with the noncompete and trade secret provisions of your employment obligations with the company.

yours truly,

attorney

Notes:
I still have the Employee Handbook and will return it at their expense.
I had the "database" they refer to 2 yrs prior to employment with company and have transfered the "Employment period " information to an employee that the company specified.
Computer originally came from company with W2K and "user" rights (unable to install needed software, specifically the Database software) as a result I put a clean OS (XP) on and loaded the appropriate applications. - Upon my resignation I simply put the original OS (W2K) back on. I purchased the DB software, so I did not load that.
I did not lie about my future employment. I stated I would be an independent contractor. (Former boss is the reason for leaving anyway - backstabbing CYA mofo with no ethics whatsoever)
I did not contact former customers. They were my friends before employment with said company and they asked me to a lunch.
I live in a Right to Work state - GA

I am looking for possible responses to this. TIA
 
Tell them all of this and then inform them to never contact you again directly. If they want to talk to you, they can talk to your attorney.
 
I thought "Right to Work" meant you can choose not to join a union... what does that have to do with this situation? If you signed a non-compete agreement, and then you compete with them, you're violating your agreement with them whether you knew the people before or not.

Like Hammer said, post the conditions of the non-compete agreement if you have it.
 
Originally posted by: dabuddha
Tell them all of this and then inform them to never contact you again directly. If they want to talk to you, they can talk to your attorney.
Click to expand...
Why? Chances are he can resolve this without overpaying a mouthpiece. Then again, if it escalates, that mouthpiece might save his ass...
 
I used to live in Georgia myself. I talked with my father-in-law once about no compete clauses in contracts and he said he talked with his lawyer and the odds are 50-50 in a lawsuit.

Please take info with a grain of salt
 
Originally posted by: RaymondY
I used to live in Georgia myself. I talked with my father-in-law once about no compete clauses in contracts and he said he talked with his lawyer and the odds are 50-50 in a lawsuit.

Please take info with a grain of salt
Click to expand...
Exactly. Non-compete agreements are rarely worth the paper they are printed on. They only work because your new employer might not want to go through the hassle of a lawsuit.

 
Send the purchase information and the license number of the database software to an anti-piracy team together with the letter, stating that the company clearly is asking for an illegal copy of the software you have purchased, and that they may very well have more illegal software.

Good way to screw them over 😉
 
Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Send the purchase information and the license number of the database software to an anti-piracy team together with the letter, stating that the company clearly is asking for an illegal copy of the software you have purchased, and that they may very well have more illegal software.

Good way to screw them over 😉
Click to expand...

😀
 
I never signed a non-compete...unless it is in the handbook, which i would have signed that I recieved a copy of the handbook, not it's contents...... looking now
 
Originally posted by: GeorgiaBadger
I never signed a non-compete...unless it is in the handbook, which i would have signed that I recieved a copy of the handbook, not it's contents...... looking now
Click to expand...

you didn't sign anything when you left the company?
 
How come the letter says they are going to file charges or whatever in OH, then you say you live in GA.

That doesnt make sense to me.
 
Originally posted by: Hammer
Originally posted by: GeorgiaBadger
I never signed a non-compete...unless it is in the handbook, which i would have signed that I recieved a copy of the handbook, not it's contents...... looking now
Click to expand...

you didn't sign anything when you left the company?
Click to expand...


Didn't sign anything. equipment, software, files, nothing
 
Originally posted by: Beattie
How come the letter says they are going to file charges or whatever in OH, then you say you live in GA.

That doesnt make sense to me.
Click to expand...


Company headquarted in Ohio. I was sales and live and work the southeast.
 
I would speak to a lawyer. Start digging up documentation of your software proving you own it, get your friends to write official letters stating you have been friends since before you joined the company. Ask their attorny for a copy of the non-compete or whatever agreement that proves you signed it.
 
As for "Right to Work" state. In Georgia basically no company can keep you from making a living, even if you are in direct violation of any non compete.

I had a company pull that crap. Unfortunately they were the only supplier in a very niche market, so there was no way for me to earn a living without violating the agreement.

They sent a cease and desist, I had my lawyer send a "bring it on" letter. I now work for their largest customer and it is fun because they have to kiss my ass now.

I would definately work the lawyer angle if I was you GB. Send them the bare minimum of what they request (i.e. token data but not all data) and tell them piss off.

EtOH
 
If you were not presented a copy of the confidentiality agreement or a non compete then my guess is they do not apply to you regardless of what the manual says.
 
This seriously looks like more bark then bite. Get a tough attorney who barks louder and they'll cave. I don't think they have much of a case...but a good lawyer will tell you that for sure, I'm not a lawyer. You can have him draft a tough letter for you.

Above guy is right, that almost sounds like the boss wrote it himself...not to professional.
 
Non-competes are scare tactics by a company to keep you from hopping to another company for better pay and such. In this downturn economy, I would think that someone (Senator/State Attorney General) would go after these people for what is essentially indentured servitude.
 
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