New Job? Think Twice Before Announcing it via Social Media

BY: Sarah Koch

A lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court recently raised the issue of whether a former employee’s LinkedIn post announcing a new job could violate an anti-solicitation clause of a non-compete contract with the former employer.

In KNF&T Inc. v. Muller, staffing company KNF&T filed suit against its former vice president, Charlotte Muller, for violating a non-compete contract in a number of ways, one of which was a LinkedIn update which notified Ms. Muller’s 500+ contacts of her new job.  Among those contacts were Ms. Muller’s former clients at KNF&T.  KNF&T filed suit alleging that the update notification violated her one year non-compete contract by soliciting business from current KNF&T clients.

The court issued a narrow ruling stating that the posting did not violate the non-compete agreement because Ms. Muller’s new position in information technology recruiting did not directly compete with KNF&T’s work in recruiting administrative support specialists.

Since the court was able to resolve the case based on a differentiation in practice areas, it did not have to resolve the issue of whether a LinkedIn notification could violate the terms of a non-competition agreement.  Such a determination will always depend of the particular facts of the case, such as whether the new position directly competes with the former employer, whether the individual is connected with former clients on LinkedIn, and the content of the notification.

Employees subject to a non-competition agreement should exercise caution when using social media to announce a new position.  If they do make an announcement, they should consult the terms of their non-compete agreement to determine what could constitute a violation.  For instance, if the non-compete only prohibits solicitation of the former employer’s current clients, the employee should be sure to exclude any such clients from the notification by selecting which groups receive the message.  The time spent paring down the list of recipients is well worth avoiding a potential lawsuit.