[stuart mc]

I think if you wanted to do it Stuart as you say, the contract wasnt made with you....

Trouble is also clients get used to seeing people, and like who they deal with, and then when you go it alone theres things in place that you cant go back to the people that like dealing with you, funny old world....  But I suppose thats laws and regulations...

any way my point is if richy does get his guys to sign up, then yes maybe they should not approach his customers, but and it is a big but if the customers approaches the new company I think they could take them on, it would be breaking so many laws for them not to, I think these clauses in contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on,

but this has nowt to do with richy involving his girlfriend in the business, so lets leave it there

[Catherine10]

Sure.

[Pope vader]

workers nicking work

this has just happened to a mate of mine, 3.5 k a month he lost  lad worked for him,  then left and all the custy went with him,  nothing he can do about it  as you dont own the custy and they can have there window cleaned by who ever they want,  u can claim that it is written in a contracts, but there is nothign to stop the custy saying i dont want you i want fred and will go with fred

[windiewasher]

you can have that in a contract!
i would imagine however there would be a set time period for this!
when i was a shift manager for printing company,in my contract i had that i couldnt work in printing in a simillar role for 3 months after leaving contract!

[stuart mc]

as I keep saying you can put what ever you want in a contract, it doesn't mean you can do anything if they ignore it,

[Pope vader]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restraint_of_trade

Restraining workers
 
See also: Non-compete clause
 
Restraining clauses in employment contracts are enforceable if:
 There is a legitimate interest which needs to be protected. Examples of such interests include business connections and business secrets.
 The restraint is reasonable, i.e. sufficiently protects the interest and goes no further.
 
Generally, if a restraining clause is found to be unreasonable, then it will be void. In certain circumstances though the court may uphold it either by construing ambiguities or by severance. Severance consists of the application of what is known as the "blue pencil test"; if individual words which make the clause excessively wide are able to be crossed out and the clause still makes grammatical sense, without altering the nature of the obligations, then the courts may be willing to sever the illegal aspects of the clause and enforce the remainder.


how could you stop some one taking your custy if they wanted to go with them,  as you are technically stopping them from earning a living in there chosen field of work

[richard jagger]

You can add a bar clause to a worker employment contract preventing him stealing you customer as long as its reasonable( in time scale 6 months) and you can prove it caused damage to your business.It is used in the hairdressing industry all the time and in any  industry that services customer.Your worker can never claim that your businesses customer were his property.If the customer phoned him in this time he would have to ex plane and refuse them.You invested to canvass these customer.

[Pope vader]

what a load of crap,  if a custy says i want my windows cleaned by fred and not jim,  what can jim do about,  i think it would get laughed out of court,

my misses use to work in hairdressers,  when she left custy would follow, how can you make some not off there service to some one who wants it

[davids3511]

Yea I think you can Davids, my friend had a similar thing being a hairdresser, she wasnt allowed to work within a certain radius.   It was part of her contract

No you can't, it's freedom of employment, you can work for whom ever you like. Even if the guy did sign a contract all he would need to do is setup a ltd company and work for that as an employee. The ltd company didn't sign anything with richy and would be free to take whatever customers it could.

[Catherine10]

Not an expert Davids only going from what happened to a friend. 

[richard jagger]

how could you stop some one taking your custy if they wanted to go with them,  as you are technically stopping them from earning a living in there chosen field of work
THIS IS TRUE BUT THE WORKER DOES NOT HAVE TO USE YOUR CUSTOMER TO MAKE A LIVING. THE COURT WILL ASK WHY THE WORKER HAS NOT TRIED TO SEEK HIS CUSTOMERS ANY WARE ELSE.AS I SAID THIS PRACTICE YOU COULD PROVE THE HE HAS SET OUT TO DAMAGE YOUR BUSINESS.IF I WAS THE WORKER I WOULD NOT MESS AS IF THE COURT FINDS FOR YOU IT WOULD COST HE A LOT OF MONEY.

[stuart mc]

employers use these contracts on the hope that we are all as stupid as we look, and we believe it, and it would seem there is a few on here that confirm this to be true, when I did employ I put a clause in the contract but I knew I had no chance of enforcing it if the employee tried it on when leaving, but I put it there in the hope that he believed it was wrong and illegal

[richard jagger]

weLL i LEFT AND WENT ON MY OWN AND GAVE CARDS TO MY CUSTOMERS, BELIEVE ME OR NOT IT COST ME DEARLY.

[Pope vader]

ok,  say i work for dave morris (example) and i tell a custy i am leaving to start my own business and i get on great with this custy and he says ok, put me down i will come to you as your my window cleaner

do i

1, say great and take him and then knock the area and get more

2, say sorry i cant that would be illegal,

this is stuff goes on all the time, when was the last time you seen some one win a court case against a ex employee for nicking there work

[Pope vader]

tell us more wiz

[stuart mc]

weLL i LEFT AND WENT ON MY OWN AND GAVE CARDS TO MY CUSTOMERS, BELIEVE ME OR NOT IT COST ME DEARLY.

serves you right, if you had just set up and did it quietly and let the customers come to you, you would have been ok, especially if you made a point of targeting new work, instead of trying to take work from an ex employer, not feeling sorry you from here

[Catherine10]

Ultimately your decision Rich, sure you can factor in your girlfriend,  but it has to be a structured decision.  Everybody knows what there job is.

[Helen]

as title says my girlfriend wants to be part of my business,going to bring her in few hours a day to do admin so me and chris can concentrate on bringing new quality work in,

few questions

who else has there partners working in there businesses

what roles do the females take care of

what time of day do you think would be best to have a part time office worker

morning or afternoon

  another idea
first your're selling, then you're not, last year wasn't it, you took to your bed with depression and let an employee do it all for you, then you are going into carpet cleaning, then you're not, you have your best mate come into the business to run it when you can't decide if you should be on the tools or in the office, now you think it will all be solved by employing your girlfriend.............Jeez slow down and give your brain some time to think things through, before you have a complete breakdown and lose the lot.

In answer to "what roles do the females take care of" your girlfriend won' be around long if you have that sort of attitude If she is worth any good in an office, let her set it up, run it and you just do what you are told........it might just work then

[Catherine10]

You ooze confidence Helen, not everybody does.  communication, talking to people It can be quite difficult depending on what nature you are, some people find certain things difficult.

[richard jagger]

Helen takes no prisoners.She`s got her head on the rite way.
Some just don't like to  face the truth, civil cases are something else.
To Cathy I don't want to go into some thing that happened some time ago. But the solicitors bill were higher than the settlement.If the person is like a dog with a bone you have problems.