Employment Law

[Ruddududdi]

Hi All,
Newbie here so please be gentle. What I would like assistance with is the following.
I have 2 employees that have registered a business of the same industry. They have access to all company policies and procedures as well as client information. I consider this a breach of contract so have suspended them pending an investigation. What I would like to know is what questions should I put to them in the interview

[ULA]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Firstly I need to understand the following:

1. What restrictive covenants are in their contracts of employment?
2. Do you have a clause regarding confidential information relating to the company and clients?
3. Do you have clauses about "Devotion of Time" and not being able to undertake any employment either employed or self-employed without the consent of you as the current employer?

[Ruddududdi]

Hi, Thanks for your response, the answer you your 3 questions is yes to all

[ULA]

So you at least have all the relevant safeguards in their contract. All you know at the moment is that they have registered a company in the same sector as your company operates. You also need to remember that this is an investigation meeting and is therefore a fact finding exercise before you make any decision about whether to start disciplinary proceedings.

Just in terms of the meeting as well, restrictive covenants come into force when someone leaves the business at the moment they are still in the business so points 2 and 3 are really important in terms of information you want to get from the investigation meeting. You know the specifics of your business better than me so you will need to prepare some questions based on those facts, however some general questions are:

1. Confirm that they have in fact set up this business together.
2. What is their intention behind setting it up?
3. Are they currently working on the business this leads. Point 3?
4. Do they think they would be in contravention of their restrictive covenants if they resigned to work in their new business? Point 1
5. If not what why not?
6. How can you be satisfied that they are not making use of internal sensitive information e.g. clients, pricing etc? Point 2

Be prepared that depending on the answer you get to the questions you ask it may lead to other questions so do not necessarily be too prescriptive about what you ask. Also answers given by the first person you interview may lead to further questions to ask when you interview the second person.

Just as a point of process I assume that at the time or shortly after you suspended each individual you send a letter to then confirming the following information:

1. The reasons for the suspension and how long it is expected to last.
2. Their rights and obligations during the suspension. For example, that they should be contactable during normal working hours.
3. A point of contact and their contact details for you during the suspension.
4. That the purpose of suspension is to investigate and is not an assumption of guilt.
5. Not to attend the office unless specifically asked to and not to speak to any colleagues whilst the investigation is going on.
6. Remaining on full pay unless their contract of employment says otherwise in the event of being suspended.

If you have not done this then I suggest that you get this out to them as soon as possible.

[Ruddududdi]

Thanks you for your great answer, some good questions that I will be using in the investigation, any more you can think of would be greatly appreciated. As for the suspension all your points were covered in the suspension letter that was sent.

Again Thank you