Violating the non compete agreement

[magatra]

The company which holds my H1 is company A and is based in CA. I came to US in March 08 and stayed in NJ with my relatives. Company A did not do any marketing for me. Finally I managed to land a job in east coast with company C through its direct vendor company B in June 08. Company A and Company B have a corp to corp agreement. During the initial four months company A did not pay me anything except for my flight ticket and gave me $500 for expenses. It has been more than a year working in my current project. I asked Company A for a raise which he denied saying that the Company was not doing. Later I got a rate increase from Company B, after that I asked Company A to give me a hike. To this also he did not agree. After fighting with him for months he agreed to pay me quartely bonus. But they said that will not increase my salary on my salary slip. As I had done the rate negotiations with Company B, I know that my employer is passing me peanuts and keeping the major chunk for himself. My project is slated to run through end of next year. I want to transfer my H1 to some other company but continue working with Company C through Company B. I even had a talk with Company B and they have no problem if I transfer my H1 to Company X. They are ready to do a corp to corp agreement with them. I have a non-compete agreement in my offer letter which states:

During the course of (unless otherwise directed by and done on behalf of company A) and for the one (1) year period following the termination of your employment with company A, you agree not to directly or indirectly (i) solicit the business of or become employed by any customer or third party entity with whom you had been placed on behalf of company A, and (ii) solicit for employment any person(s) employed by company A. You agree that company A will be entitled to injunctive relief as well as damages for any violation by you of this paragraph and that this provision is reasonable and necessary for company A‘s protection due to your exposure to company A‘s confidential and proprietary information and trade secrets.

I want to know if I transfer my h1 to Company X, will Company A sue me? What are the other options that I have. In my offer letter Company A had mentioned that they will start paying me only after I start working on a project. I feel that he is harassing me staying on the fine legal line. Please advise me on how to go about it.

Thanks

[fromnaija]

I have been through same experience. I transferred my H1 to another company and damned the consequences. In my case the company tried to sue but I got a lawyer to write them and spelt out their violations and that shut them up.

In your case I think such non compete agreements are null and void in California. You may want to ask from a lawyer who specializes in labor law.

[kothuri]

Your sponsoring company has done too many violations and won't have the guts to sue you. If they do send an attorney letter back to them.

Since you are in a different geographic area they will try to send you a lawyer notice via a certified mail. So do not pick any certified mail you do not know. The other thing would be a random person can just knock on your door and give you the notice. So reject any such things if your receive. Once you change employer cutoff all the communication with that guy and if possible change your phone number (At work) and make any personal numbers unlisted. Inspite of all these if that guy tracks you down then you can take the pain of sending him a lawyer notice justifying your actions as to why you decided to move.

-Sri

[yestogc]

before taking any step, consult and attorney, tell him your case and I am sure he would also advise you to change to new company.

But but do not think, things will be smooth, you will surely get letters and notices, but if you have already spoken with an attorney , he can reply back and things will be fine eventually.