Employee mobility is a legal lane, not a network favor. Non-solicits bind for 12-24 months, client poaching follows trade-secret rules, and your general skills stay yours. Read the boundaries before you move anyone.
The Three Lines
- Employee non-solicits: hiring ex-colleagues post-exit is blocked in most agreements; public job postings are the standard carve-out. The state map is in the non-compete guide, enforcement in the enforcement playbook, and settlement scope in the settlement menu.
- Client non-solicits: 12-24 months, named accounts; relationship-building before exit is the safe lane.
- Trade secrets vs skills: confidential lists, pricing, code, roadmaps are protected; your methods, industry knowledge, and relationships are yours (ftc.gov guidance).
Hire-After-Leave Patterns
New employers indemnify senior hires on enforcement risk (see the new-employer rules). Founder moves are the highest-risk pattern: non-solicits + trade secrets + garden leave collide. The farewell keeps the network inside the rules — see the farewell generator and the reference loop.
Before you sign, get these in writing
- The rule text, not a summary: the sentence in the handbook, plan document, or offer letter that states the payout, eligibility, or notice duty.
- The dates: the notice date, the last day worked, the effective date of any change, and the date the decision was made.
- The name and channel of the decision maker: who approved it, and the email or portal the confirmation was sent through.
- Your own copy, dated: save the request you sent and the answer you received, with the timestamp. A record built after access is cut is much weaker.
Put the rule into action
Three clause facts before you hire or get hired
Mobility is decided by three clause facts, not by loyalty: what the list covers, when the clock starts, and what the carve-out allows. Read them before you refer anyone or accept a role with a team move attached.
- List definition. Named accounts and named employees are narrow. “Any client or colleague” is broad and is where disputes start.
- Clock start. Some clauses run from separation, others from notice, others from the last contact with the account. The start date is the difference between four months and twelve.
- Carve-out. Public job postings, inbound applications, and general advertising are the standard carve-outs. Direct messaging to listed people is not.
Also check venue and fee-shifting, because those decide who pays if the clause is fought. Confirm the state rules on the state map and read the non-solicitation entry before you act on a verbal “we never enforce it.”
The hire sequence that survives a claim
If you are building a team from a former employer, the sequence matters more than the timing:
- Hire from public applications only. Keep the requisition posting date and the applicant source record.
- No direct outreach to listed colleagues while the clause runs. A recruiter message to a named teammate is the exhibit a claim is built from.
- Let candidates approach you. Inbound interest from a former coworker is defensible; solicited interest usually is not.
- Document your own skills. Methods, industry knowledge, and relationships you built personally are not confidential information. Keep training and certification records that show where the skill came from.
- Disclose the clause to the new employer in writing with the non-compete disclosure generator, and get their written position on the scope you may work in.
Senior hires often get indemnification for enforcement risk. Ask for it in the offer conversation and confirm it in the acceptance letter with the offer acceptance email, so the protection is paper rather than a recruiting promise.
Founder and team-move exposure
A group departure is the highest-risk mobility pattern, because three claims stack: non-solicit, confidentiality, and trade secret. Garden leave compounds it: you stay paid, employed, and offline, and the non-solicit clock runs while you are on payroll.
- Get the garden leave terms in writing: start date, end date, pay, contact rules, and access removal.
- Do not coordinate the move over personal email. A thread planning a collective exit reads as a solicited team move.
- Never take lists, decks, code, or roadmaps. Skills and public contacts survive scrutiny; files do not.
- Ask the new employer to review the agreement before start. That review is also your indemnification conversation.
- Keep the network clean. A farewell note that invites public connection is safe; a private recruiting list is not.
Read the garden leave entry, and use the farewell email generator to keep the reconnect inside the rules. Build references one at a time with the reference letter draft generator instead of a group ask.
| Action | Why it is risky | Do this instead |
|---|
| Direct message to a listed coworker | Reads as solicitation of a named employee | Recruit through public postings and inbound applications |
|---|
| Carrying a client list to the new role | Confidential-list claim plus non-solicit claim | Use only public contacts and your own dated records |
|---|
| Coordinating a group exit by email | Evidence of a planned team move | Individual applications, separate communications |
|---|
The live rule text sits on the California job exit rules page and the New York job exit rules page, along with the Release of Claims definition and the hiring references non competes guide hub. Confirm there before you put a date or a dollar amount in writing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Can my old employer block me from hiring former coworkers?
- A non-solicit can, for the period and the list it defines. Public postings and inbound applications are the standard carve-out. Check the clock start date and your state rules before you refer anyone.
- Are client non-solicits enforced more often than non-competes?
- Yes, in most states. Named-account scope, the clock start, and the contact definition decide the outcome, and courts more readily protect relationships than they protect a blanket ban on working.
- Do my professional skills count as confidential information?
- No. General skill, training, industry knowledge, and personally built relationships are not secrets. Keep records showing where you learned them, because the claim is argued with documents and dates.
- What should a new employer confirm before a senior hire starts?
- Their written position on the scope you may work in, whether they indemnify enforcement risk, and who reviews the agreement you signed. Put all three in the acceptance email, not in a call.
Mobility terms, non-solicit clocks, and the client list are contract terms tested under state law, and reimbursement and wage-claim deadlines that ride with a move are state rules graded in this build from reported sources. Confirm the state position with the agency named on the state rule pages before you sign, keep the 12-24 month window and the named list in writing, and log the start date, the carve-out date, and the notice date in the application tracker.
Sources (official record — verify before filing)
US FTC — competition policy