Can i legally contact clients from my previous employment?

Hi there

Just looking for some advice.

I have recently finished working for a company that i was employed with for the last eight years. I gave them the due six weeks notice and I left to start up my own business in the same sector.

The thing is, is that when I left, I was told by my employer that there would be legal implications for me if i contacted any of my previous clients offering my services. I can't see how this could be so, because for the first four years of my employment I had a contract each year with my previous employer. Its quite a small company with few formalities and they never renewed my contract for the last four years I was working there.

I would like to contact some of my previous clients for a few reasons. Firstly because obviously from a business perspective it makes sense for me financially to have some clients while establishing my business. Secondly I have a great relationship with these clients from dealing with them for so long I would like to continue looking after their business as well as I would be most familiar with their files.

Is it just empty threats when my previous employer says that there will be legal implications if i contact these clients?

A couple have rang me on my mobile to see where I am because my previous employers are telling them that due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had to take an immediate career break.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks GED

GED said:

Hi there

Just looking for some advise. I have recently finished working for a company that i was employed with for the last eight years. I gave them the due 6 weeks notice and I left to start up my own business in the same sector.

The thing is, is that when i left, i was told by my employer that there would be legal implications for me if i contacted any of my previous clients offering my services. I can't see how this could be so, because for the first four years of my employment i had a contract each year with my previous employer. Its quite a small company with few formalities and they never renewed my contract for the last four years i was working there.

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AFAIK Once you have been retained for more than 4 years you are considered to be on an open-ended contract. See

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/c...ose-contracts/?searchterm=fixed-term contract

That suggests to me that your final contract may remain in force. If there were terms in it addressing working for customers then under Contract Law they could be enforceable. (Whether or not your previous employer will do so is another matter altogether and you may find it difficult to get a definitive answer on it).

You will also also note in

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/c...ontracts-of-employment/contract_of_employment

the following:-

"In recent times, some employers are adding in specific provisions in contracts of employment that limit the ability of employees to work in a certain sector, with certain suppliers, clients, for a period following termination of employment. (For example, it may specifically state that the employee cannot work in a certain sector, with or for suppliers or clients of the former employer, etc.). There is nothing in employment law in Ireland that strictly forbids this, but there is no provision in employment law that allows this either.

Essentially, this is an issue of contract law - that is, the contract of employment signed and agreed between the employer and employee. If you have any concerns about this issue, you are strongly advised to seek legal advice from a competent legal professional in advance of signing this contract. However, even if the contract is signed, you are always free to seek such legal advice."

Start by consulting the Employment Rights Information Unit and if necessary seek legal advice as recommended above.

Nice reward for the employer after giving you work for 8 years! If I were your prospective clients I would question whether you would look after their affairs or your own.

simplyjoe said:

Nice reward for the employer after giving you work for 8 years! If I were your prospective clients I would question whether you would look after their affairs or your own.

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Thats a bit rich, I dont think anyone looks at the last 8 years as being privelaged to work for any given employer!
ore the other way round IM sure the employer should have been quite thankful to retain an employee for such a period.

It is a free market and competition is helathy and what our economy requires to continue.....

However many contracts these days have a non competition clause and the OP must check this specifically and get legal advice before proceeding I would advise......

It is when the OP is using contacts generated by and information held by his/her previous employer. Try building a business with all the risks associated. Try training someone for years and then see them set up business in competition to you taking the clients that they have possibly courted for a number of years. Loyalty must be a factor somewhere. If the OP has done this to his/her employer then it is possible that he/she will do this to his/her clients also. Beware clients!. If he/she wants to set up on his/her own - good luck. I dont feel it is right to attack his/her previous employer using confidential information obtained in that employment.

simplyjoe said:

Nice reward for the employer after giving you work for 8 years! If I were your prospective clients I would question whether you would look after their affairs or your own.

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Nice to see some people still miss indentured servitude....

Regardless of the legalities of direct contacts to your ex-employer's clients (in relation to which I am not sufficiently expert to comment) it may be more prudent for you to advertise or promote your new business in general way in order that you ensure that they are aware of your new business. If they want to do business with you, they will gladly move their custom to you but you may well do yourself harm if you put them on the spot, as it were, before they are ready to do so. In my own experience, most clients prefer to deal with a business that is up and running at least 1 or 2 years rather than committing to a newcomer. They want to satisfy themselves first that the business will be there for the long haul.

Nice reward for the employer after giving you work for 8 years!

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I would like to point out in relation to the comment above, that the service i will be offering was not a service the company i used to work for used to offer prior to my employment with them, nor did they train me in this area. I helped introduce this service within the company and was subsequently responsible for training other employees in this area. It quickly become a very successful product within the company and something i will also be able to make a success of on my own. So i truly believe that my ex-employers company benefited as much if not more from my 8 years of service and experience whilst working in the company.

Ubiquitous - thanks for your valuable input above. I think i would rather try the indirect approach as you suggested by advertising in such a way that my ex-clients will be aware that i have not taken an "unforeseen career break" and if they wish they will move their custom to me of their own accord.. You also made a very good point about not wanting to put these clients "on the spot" as it were. The last thing i want to do is make these clients feel uncomfortable so i will definately be taking heed of your advice.

I think the first thing you should look at is the contract that you signed, is an exclusion clause included in this contract, if yes what does it state, aare you prevented from operating in the sector in a specific location, from contacting company's existin clients, or from taking phone calls from clients that contact you

the list is endless, look at the contract.

It sounds like you will be in direct competition with your previous employer, and taking customers from them. Understandably, they are not going to be happy about this. It appears they are already threatening legal action and suggesting to clients that "due to unforeseen circumstances, i have had to take an immediate career break", so they are not going to play nice. You need to take professional advice now.

Thanks tiger and deem for your imput. As i stated earlier

I don't want to put these clients "on the spot" as it were. The last thing i want to do is make these clients feel uncomfortable

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So i think i will concentrate now on building up a new client database and start getting on with my own business.

As i mentioned in my initial posting, i was not asked to sign a contract in the last 4 years with this company. Just to satisfy my own curiousity, could the last contract i signed still stand even though it was signed over 4 years ago?

Hi GED,

Under the Data Protect Acts unless you have explicit permission from each of the individuals on the client list to contact them then you are in breach of the act.

Also, you can not use information collected one a person for one purpose and use it for another purpose.

For example: If you were employed in a car dealership selling cars to a client list and you left the company, you can not use the client list to sell a differnet product. In this case the customer gave their details to be informed about cars only (which applys to your previous employer also).


You could of course hang outside the clients premises and wait for them to come out the door and act all surprised and tell them you have set up a new business.............oppps sorry...........your former clients could do you for using their address details for a purpose other than that intended

To quote from the ACTrovides that personal data

(i) " shall have been obtained only for one or more specified , explicit and legitimate purposes"
and
(ii) "shall not be further processed in a manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes."

Best of luck with the start up, you will get you own clients in time and on your own steam.

GED, legality aside maybe you should consider another factor; If you worked for me and targeted my customers when you left I would take it personally and do everything I could to put you out of business by targeting your customers and undercutting you 'till you went out of business.
Your former employer probably has deeper pockets than you. Do you want to make an enemy of them?

Hi Purple... No, really don't want to make an enemy of anyone!! Hence

So i think i will concentrate now on building up a new client database and start getting on with my own business

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