Q & A Table of Contents
What Are My Obligations To A Company That Laid Me Off?
From: Kim, Chicago, Illinois
Question: I've been working there just over 5 years and moved in the last 2 years to support clients in the Midwest and east coast. The company is going through financial hardships and needed to downsize an already slim workforce. Just before the news, a team of two of us were working actively on a customer project that was wrapping up the same week we learned we were laid off. This customer is a huge client for my former company and to be professional, I sent them an email informing them that I had been laid off and was no longer available to answer questions on existing applications. I asked them if they knew of any companies hiring and if so, to please forward that information as it is weeks before Christmas and finding a job during this economy was challenging enough.
The two of us were able to pursue opportunities with this customer through a contract basis if more work were to surface. As this was still to be determined, my fellow ex-employee decided to disclose our efforts and contract rates to our former company. The former CEO, now CTO shared that any new projects were fair game and provided a type of "support" to help us in our endeavors.
I just recently got a call from the customer stating that she got a call from the CTO explaining their attempts to contract us and told her that we were not allowed to work for a customer until after 6 months of termination. I don't recall or have any document stating such facts and tried to explain this to the customer. She then further explained that this would make things difficult and that it was proposed to her that if she was interested in having us work for her, that she go through our former company to work out a subcontract.
I wanted to know if there is any hidden obligation that I have to a former company not to contract work after being laid off. My handbook and documents that I have that were signed by me make no indications of waiting 6 months or not able to work for a customer.
Response: You are raising two different issues. The first relates to whether there are limitations on your capacity to do work for the customer independently of your former employer. This could be a legal issue; while you may not have been able to find any paperwork supporting the position taken by the CTO of your former employer, it could make sense to check with a lawyer familiar with local laws. If you cannot afford a private attorney, it may be possible to get help through your state's division of employment security or perhaps some other organization that provides help to people who are 'between jobs'.
The other issue is more ominous. If your fellow ex-employee's memory is to be trusted, the CTO offered support (or at least no obstacles) to your work with the customer -- and then turned around and told the customer the exact opposite. This sounds like extremely bad faith. Leaving aside the possibility of legal issues raised above, from a standpoint of fairness, it sounds like the CTO -- and consequentially your ex-employer -- is behaving in extraordinarily bad faith.
Contact the CTO of your ex-employer and let him/her know you are confused by the apparently mixed messages s/he is sending to you and to the customer. Ask for clarification of what has been said. If the message to you is you are barred from working with the customer, ask for documentation to back up this information. You might let the CTO that without documentation, you cannot consider yourself under any obligation to your ex-employer. By the same token, listen carefully for any indication that the real threat is that the customer will suffer in some way for hiring you.
You might contact the customer who was 'warned' not to hire you; ask her for a letter summarizing the information she received from the CTO. If the customer and your ex-employer have a long-term relationship, this may be a difficult thing to get. However, you may want to ask the customer for advice. It may well be that she so values your services that the customer's attorney might be made available to advise both you and the customer of your legal rights and obligations.
If the customer cannot/will not issue a letter or memorandum of what the CTO communicated, your next best step is to have a meeting with the customer -- and your fellow ex-employee -- so that you have a witness to whatever the customer says. Remember you do not want to jeopardize your customer's relationship with your ex-employer, but you do want to offer services and hopefully gain a paying job. So be careful in planning what questions to ask of the customer, listen well to what she says, and measure every bit of information based on your short- and long-term interests.
It sounds as if this situation may serve to remind your ex-employer of their need for your services. If they want to 'rent' you out to the customer, you should aim to get paid a higher hourly rate as a consultant than you were paid as an employee since it is likely the consulting engagement will be for a relatively short term, you are not likely to get whatever benefits were included in your previous compensation package and therefore your pay as a consultant should reflect these different circumstances.
Good luck,
Steve
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