Many of the cases discussed in this blog deal with contractual post-employment restrictions that employees may have, such as non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. It can be easy to forget, however, that the problems in hiring a competitor's employees are not limited to just these contractual issues and that claims for violation of various common law torts and statutory obligations may also occur. A recent decision from the federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois provides an almost textbook example of just about everything that can go wrong when an employer hires a competitor's employees even where the employees are not subject to post-employment contractual restrictions.
