
Ask HN: Is it illegal to tell someone that you quit a company? - caretStick
Background:  Obvious burner handle.  I worked at a company.  I resigned.  I told someone that I had quit, almost three months after quitting, and after starting a new job.  I have a confidentiality agreement, which is valid for twelve months beyond my resignation date.<p>I&#x27;m now threatened with legal action because I informed someone that I wasn&#x27;t working there.  Setting aside whether I can win against the confidentiality agreement, the argument I&#x27;m seeking is that I&#x27;m obligated to make it public knowledge, and thereby making the knowledge that I have quit inherently non-confidential.<p>I did own shares, so there may have been an SEC reg about that.<p>IRS requirements?<p>In all honesty, I think it would have been potentially making me complicit in fraud (if the company raised money while claiming that I was an employee) had I <i>not</i> informed anyone, so I did have reason to share this knowledge.
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alain94040
Ok, it sounds like your issue is not really a legal one. No reasonable company
sues an ex-employee for telling someone else that they have quit.

There must be some bad blood here, or some underlying issue that is causing
your ex-employer to freak out. Worry about that. If your ex-boss is some crazy
paranoid, that's the problem right there. No amount of legal argument will
make a difference.

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caretStick
This answer feels 100% correct. If I consider a 3rd party perspective, I'd say
it's completely ridiculous. Companies should be busy being companies, not
suing over something so obviously non-damaging.

So let's add a little context.

I have back-salary that's overdue. I asked for a timeline. I got no timeline.
I said I would sue in a month. I got a bunch of nasty stuff back.

I told one of the board members that I had resigned. They had no idea that I
had resigned (almost three months ago), and I'm guessing that they were also
the primary source of new leads for the company to raise. This is where
"damages" and "best interests of the company" arguments seemingly deserve
analysis.

My desire to distance myself from the company cannot be decoupled from my
potential motive to derail the company by breaking the news. While I would
consider it 100% right to enforce the ethics of disclosure on the company, I
would prefer 100% legal if it goes to court, which it would do so as a big
waste of time, but one that might require my attention.

I desire to spend zero time on this, and the other party has contacted me with
the desire to also have no further interaction.

That's all fine, but what about the back-salary? A 3rd party would be right to
say that I'm only after it because I don't want to be intimidated away from
getting what's mine. A healthy course seems to wait for them to boil down and
for me to get more stable in my new roll before asking for the payment.

The board member will probably want answers, so I won't totally be done for
now yet.

And just three weeks ago, the CEO wanted to meet me in SF to catch up...

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zer00eyz
"I have back-salary that's overdue."

Assuming you were a full time employee you don't need to sue, but rather file
a wage claim with the labor board. If your nice, you will send an EMAIL that
your fling the claim on Monday unless you have a check before then.

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ig1
(IANAL)

Unless you have something bizarre in your contract it's unlikely they could
sue. Unless specifically stated the fact that you quit wouldn't be counted as
company confidential information. Further more given the person you told is a
board member of the company it's not clear that anything you told them could
breach confidentiality.

Normally most companies have a clause specifically saying you can't claim to
work for them after you leave the company.

~~~
caretStick
_Normally most companies have a clause specifically saying you can 't claim to
work for them after you leave the company._

Normally. Normally. One would think that I would ride the company's
reputation, not the other way around.

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zer00eyz
"I'm now threatened with legal action"

You didn't elaborate on HOW you were threatened. If you don't get it in
writing it didn't really happen. If it was a phone call follow up with an
email to make things clear. You might find you get a fast retraction.

Your employment status is a fact that isn't proprietary, so it would be hard
to argue that it should remain confidential, but that depends on the terms of
your agreement.

In the end, you need a lawyer, not HN.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
Maybe you should ask on the Lawyer News message board instead.

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caretStick
It was a startup, so we have like a gazillion cumulative hours of experience
being sued, going to court etc, over exactly such silly and needless
documents.

