illegal immigration, employment contracts, and non compete clause?
last year as a senior executive in a company, i discovered they were in violation of state labor laws and federal employment laws, hiring illegal immigrants and providing undocumented workers with false documents so they could work under various names (avoiding over time). i moved to stop the practice and was told it was the "only way" for the company to do business at the time. i resigned my position rather than jeopardize myself. my question is, because they were in violation of laws, is my employment contract’s non-compete still in effect?
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Tags: employment contract, false documents, federal employment laws, illegal immigrants, state labor laws, undocumented workers
April 26th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
In UK law a party cannot seek to rely on a contract if they have acted illegally, a company has many duites towards its employees which form an unwritten part of any employment contract and therefore you are likely to find that their actions will allow you to take the contract as rescinded/non-enforceable. Although this question is quite technical so you need proper legal advice…..I would guess that in any legal action regarding your employment contract, if you could prove the allegations above, then the law/judge will look more favourably on you.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
You need to talk to an Attorney for Legal Advice.
Perhaps, under the circumstances, the other Party would agree to rescind your employment contract.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
As a senior executive, you should talk to your employment law attorney. Also, you should play hard ball about being release from the clause. They will not like the idea about having the media to be inform about their employment practices.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Most states highly disfavor non-compete clauses and won’t enforce them (unless you’re talking about stealing your former company’s clients/customers). If your non-compete clause merely states that you cannot work in X industry for Y months/years, then it is unlikely that it would be enforced by a court (of course, this depends on your state).
Now, you may be able to "threaten" a "noisy withdrawal" (i.e. Going to authorities or media) about your company’s actions with regards to the illegal employment practices if they try to enforce the agreement. They would be dumb to try to play hardball with you knowing what you know.