Is it illegal to steal clients from your current employer?

[spongebob007]

If you are working as an employee for a company and have direct dealings with clients, is it illegal to tell your clients that you are starting your own company and you would like them to leave your current employer and give you their business directly?

 

[byrdj]

did you sign any type of agreement? My company has started requiring one. I did not sign one

however it is my customers that have been asking me to go independant.

 

[TheTick]

Stealing customers is one thing. Stealing information is another. Your employer could make a case that you are making illegal use of confidential information (i.e. employer's estimating/cost procedure or pending bids or projects). That could shut you down in a hurry.

Honesty may be the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[SylvestreW]

Tell then you are leaving but do not solicit.
After you've started your business, go meet with them and try to get work based on your merits (not your ex-company's faults).



-
Syl.

 

[EddyC]

Pennsylvania has some specific regulations regarding the pursuit of "someone else's" clients. Other states may or may not have similar rules.

 

[JAE]

EddyC - that provision is in many states and prohibits one engineer or engineer firm from going to a client who is under contract with another firm and attempting to convince the client to use them instead of the already-contracted engineer.

For the situation of this post, I would second SylvestereW's suggestion above - much classier.

I don't think anything about taking clients with you is illegal, but may border on unethical.

 

[JaredS]

It depends on how it's done. I heard one case where an entire department of consulting engineers uprooted and stole client contact information, worksheets etc. Needless to say they were up to their eyes in lawsuits by the end of the week.

 

[JamesBarlow]

You could also run into issues with your license depending on your states rules.

 

[COEngineeer]

Attorneys do that all the time. When they leave the firm, they take some of the clients they worked with (that like them of course) to the new firm. In fact, sending your former client an email about you move to a different firm or start your own is pretty much trying to steal clients. I dont think there is anything wrong with that.

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

 

[RVSWA]

A quick search provided this copy of the NSPE Code of Ethics...

http://www.mtengineers.org/pd/NSPECodeofEthics.pdf

"4. Engineers shall act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees."

I think it is more important to first consider your ethics and not just because they are often adopted into state law in some form or other...

Not too many years ago we started our business.

I would say, DO NOT solicit your employers clients while you are still collecting a pay check. If you haven't signed a non-compete agreement then in most cases you would be free to contact these clients after your end date. Use the Yellow-pages and don't keep any documents that your employer hasn't authorized or have knowledge of... You will likely find that you are going to do it your way anyway, it is about you now and who you are going to be as an engineer/entity.
Always have an honest and positive based response to any questions that may arise regarding your departure. I finally started to say something like, "Well you know how it is, we were like Teenagers, we thought we had all of the answers and had to give it a try. [chuckle]" "[ex-employer], was always a really good boss (mine was), blah blah blah" be honest and don't embellish, forget about anything you didn't like and never talk about it if they bring it up...

Be prepared for unpredictable receptions... Some of these clients that you felt really close to were close to you as a part of your bosses company. Others don't feel such a loyalty to your employer and you may overlook them because you don't have a glowing recollection of them. We found that relationships were really important, those based on trust even more so and usually already taken... Some that were initially turned off or even cold, later remembered who we were and gave us a try, but we share their work load with our past employer. Don't forget to look up the clients currently with your bosses competition, there is always someone on the bottom of the list, it takes time to build your own client base.

I worry that the image of the Engineer doesn't have quite the bang it may have had 50 years ago, I try hard not to contribute to any further erosion. In the end only you know many of the truths and it sure makes it easier to sleep at night when you didn't do anything unethical. Good luck and let us know how it works out...

 

[msquared48]

Personally, I feel that it is not "illegal" as I do not know of any specific legislated law governing this.

However, I also feel that is is highly, highly unethical ... and for that reason alone I would never, never consider it. Also, I would not take to kindly to the damage to my reputation among my peers that would follow, nor burning my bridges.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[frv]

I second JAE and masquerad48.

I don't think it's illegal (but I'm no expert), but it sure seems unethical.

 

[JAE]

I might clarify that spongebob007's original statement: [blue]"you would like them to leave your current employer and give you their business directly"[/blue] is a bit strong.

I'm not sure I'd contact these clients before I left the firm. But only after I'd set up shop and then simply advertise my business, services, quality, etc. as any other normal business would.

Clients aren't "owned" by the firm. Even the clients existence (name, business, contacts, etc.) are not privaledged information in my view.

But while you are still officially an employee of your first firm, I feel it is important not to market them for a "new" firm until you have officially left your first firm.

 

[ajack1]

I work in a different industry and in the UK so the legal side is probably different. Over here it is normal to have something in your contract saying something along the lines of working in the best interests of the company, so yes that would be illegal, also the higher up the ladder you are the more is stipulated in your contract, again that varies from firm to firm, read your current contract carefully.

Even if it is legal (which I very much doubt) it is highly unethical. I own a small company and whenever possible I always try and deal with companies that are open, honest and ethical. My logic is firstly that is the way I like to be and secondly someone who will act in this way to another company will do the same to me one day. I would have to be in a very tight corner to ever deal with a company or individual who acts this way. Whilst not all companies work along these lines, the ones I like to work for do, you may lose them before you even start.

 

[msquared48]

Legal or illegal, ethical or unethical, still, using the golden rule of do unto others as you would like done unto you (Matthew 7), how would you feel as an employer if one of your employees did this? To me, it's just flat wrong.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[marks1080]

You want legal advice. I don't think this is the right place.

Talk to a lawyer. Free advice is good, but advice you have to pay for is usually better (in a court of law).

 

[JaredS]

There is no such thing as free advice, I have a suspicious feeling that an economics professor said this to me once, Whether you choose to pay for it up front or further on down the road is entirely up to you.

 

[carnage1]

as a side note I recall that Google hired someone from Microsoft recently (in the last year or two) and Microsoft sued to not allow the employee to do the job he was hired for because of some clause he had in his Microsoft contract. The contract basically stated that if he left Microsoft he couldn't do the same type of work for either a year or six months.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

carnage, that's a non-compete clause... totally different thing than what we're talking about here.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[SylvestreW]

As well, most non-compete clauses don't hold up too well in courts.


-
Syl.