contract-law
Is non-solicitation specific to hiring capacity
<p>If a person signs a non-solicitation agreement with company A, that limits them from soliciting coworkers to another company for one year after the end of their employment. Is that specific to the hiring of a previous co-worker? Such that the departing person is a manager or forms their own company after leaving company A, and has an actual capacity to hire. Or would that include the person who is hired by company B, as an individual contributor with no hiring capacities, and refers a former coworker from company A. In this case the person did not hire the former coworker, but did refer them, would they also be violating a contract that limits solicitation?</p>

<p>In looking this up I mostly only see the former, where the person soliciting is actually doing the hiring. I couldn't find any case where it was just a referral and they were brought to court on it.</p>

<p>This would be in the US that I am looking for examples of it. In particular of a company filing suit against a former employee for recommending one of their former coworkers to their new workplace. In this case neither former employee or former coworker have any company A specific knowledge, but are trained, nurses. So they will not bring any customer lists, or any special knowledge, from company A, to the new company. Is it sufficient for company A to bring suit claiming the effort of finding/hiring a new nurse as damages? If so, are there any examples of this?</p>

<p>You would have to look very carefully at the contract. And then you would have to look very carefully whether any laws are being violated, because in some US states you are not supposed to take any actions that prevent employees from finding a new job. </p>
