Told my employer I was leaving, didn't end well!

[CraigJ]

Jasandjules said:

I could give you my credentials but I do not feel you will accept my view in any event. And of course if we were all correct, there would be no need for me to represent people in Tribunal. I could even give you case law which I feel goes strongly against you, but once more, I do not feel you would accept this. And again, there may be conflicting case law I am not aware of which would support your claim.

I am genuinely interested. Please do share.

[CraigJ]

Willhire89 said:

Every employers nightmare - employee who decides to go solo on the back of your customer base.

Personally I don't expect the OP's company to roll over on this one despite his confidence

I would agree if this was the case but as I have pointed out quite a few times in this thread I was in this trade working with the same customers long before I worked for my current employer.

[CraigJ]

Monkeylegend said:

So are you saying that when you go back to being self employed you have no intention of poaching your ex-employees customers?

I was never self employed. I never said I was. I worked in the same trade.

And as I have already said when I'm self employed I will be doing more than just what I have been doing for the last 3 years as I will no longer work for a manufacturer so I'm free to work on all the competitors products too which will make no difference to my employer.

[CraigJ]

I haven't removed any posts.

I think some people on here are trying to look for things that are not there. This isn't some huge conspiracy.

As for holidays. Had I been employed up to the 30th of June, yes I would have had more than enough holidays to cover the time off for the wedding.

As for the customers. I said they had been asking for my details. For obvious reasons they haven't been asking me for them. I have been told by others in this trade.

Customers now know I'm going self employed because my employer told them, not me. So that's there fault.

[CraigJ]

Red Devil said:

Was that the full extent of the conversation? If not what else was said by either side?

I was asked why I was intending to leave. Told them I was going self employed.
I asked if he would find out when I needed to put notice in and how (email/letter)

The conversation then went off to things that were not relevant.

Heard nothing till next day. Got a call asking me to meet at a local site with all my equipment. This was checked and i went home.

[CraigJ]

The covenants did concern me to begin with but the more I have looked into it the less concern I now have over them.

[CraigJ]

JustinP1 said:

I find this whole situation really bizarre.

I respect that we're looking at a puzzle with half the pieces missing and there are logical explanations, but I'm scratching my hear over the fact that you were concerned that your employer might be planning legal action over possible covenant breach, but they've all but advertised you as a sole trader.

I've seen this scenario happen a few times, but never like this!

Can I ask how your employer told customers that you were going self employed, and what exactly the communication said?

I wasn't there when they found out. I was told the next day when a friend in this trade rang me to ask if it was true. He told me he heard it from the site where I met my employer the day before. So I can only assume it came from my employer whether by accident or on purpose.

[CraigJ]

Not a great Deal

Ex employer tried quite a few times to get an injunction to stop me working and failed each time.

I put my time and energy into building my business and it is growing every week and is doing much better than I expected.

[CraigJ]

They tried to get an injunction stating I was soliciting customers. I asked for a list of customers who they thought I had stolen. I then called everyone on the list and asked if they would be happy to provide a written statement on how they came to use my services.

Every single customer was more than happy to back me up and provided a statement to the fact that they had contacted me and that I had not approached them for work.

This put a stop to this attempt.

The second time only a few months after I got the same crap from them but via a different solicitor. Same excuse and same customers listed.

This time I sent an email to the CEO of the company explaining how I was being harassed by the UK part of the company.
I got a reply saying it was being investigated and not long after I got a letter from there solicitors saying they were not pursuing it any more.

Not heard anything since. I now only have a short time until the covenants expire so I will be able to expand more. Its going well and I will be looking to take on employees within the next 12 months.

It is still stressful but I'm very happy I took the leap.

[CraigJ]

They withdrew