Can the act of connecting with other professionals on social networking websites such as LinkedIn constitute a violation of a non-compete or non-solicitation contractual undertaking? Are departing employees that are subject to such restricted covenants required to disconnect and “de-friend” colleagues and customers of their former employer until the contractual undertaking have expired?
ComputerWorld is reporting today that an IT staffing firm has accused one of its former employees of violating her non-compete undertaking through her conduct on LinkedIn. I’m not aware of any similar lawsuit to date in Canada so it’ll be interesting to see how this particular case evolves in the U.S. This case and others that I’ve previously noted highlight the blurring line between online and offline worlds. Businesses should consider whether or not, and to what extent, they should try to enforce such restrictive covenants in the social networking world. Stay tuned…
