Can I accept a job position at a company my current company has been hired by?

Jurisdiction
Colorado
My head gets jumbled when I try to go through all of these legal agreement words to identify what is or isn't relevant, or when trying to find a simple yes or no answer. Can anyone help?

The situation: I work for a company that other companies hire to do work for them. One of these companies that hired us - that my current company gets paid to do work for - has offered me a job position with them instead, doing work that is similar to what I do for them now (at my current company). My hands-on experience with their work is what made them consider me; there is no hidden attempt at trade secrets and zero chance they would ask for confidential information or anything of that nature. The field is customer service support, if this helps. Looking at the signed agreement of my current company, is it going to stop me from taking this offered job?

There is no bad blood or shiftiness about either company, but I'm worrying anyway, when things get legal like this; it's new for me.

Can someone help simplify a yes or no and the why? If it would be a no, is there any hole where it could work out? The company that has asked me to work for them is pretty excited to have me on their team. I really want this new job position because it fits, it's (slightly) better pay for me & my fam, and these are good people who were just like, 'We've worked with her - this girl is great! Why don't we consider her?'
 

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You should take your agreement to an attorney to advise you.

This may be a ridiculous question, but if an attorney is the best bet here - do you or anyone else here know of any great resources where an attorney might answer this question at free or low cost? I'm at a paycheck to paycheck point in my life and these spoken of positions aren't too much higher than the entry to mid-level range.
 
This may be a ridiculous question, but if an attorney is the best bet here - do you or anyone else here know of any great resources where an attorney might answer this question at free or low cost? I'm at a paycheck to paycheck point in my life and these spoken of positions aren't too much higher than the entry to mid-level range.
Call the CO Bar Association and ask for several attorneys in Employment Law. You should be able to get a reduced fee consult.

As an FYI: Contracts are, in general, beyond the scope of legal sites. But there may be an attorney or 3 that volunteer here and will comment on your thread so check back over the next few days. :)
 
Looking at the signed agreement of my current company, is it going to stop me from taking this offered job?

Frankly, I don't have to read a 5 page contract to be able to tell you that, yes, it probably will stop you from taking the job or get you sued if you did.

However, if your prospective employer wants you bad enough and has a good enough relationship with your current employer then your prospective employer should ask your current employer to release you from your contract and allow you to take the job.
 
Looking at the signed agreement of my current company, is it going to stop me from taking this offered job?

Having hired a few people who were similarly situated as yourself, the HIRING company USUALLY has a provision with the company employing a person in your position which ALLOWS the hiring company to do what you wish to do.

I suggest you discuss the matter with someone in the company you wish to work for to ensure you can be hired without any fuss, confusion, or legal harm to you, the hiring company, and your current employer.

It happens regularly all across the world as long as the accession provisions are in place in the contract between the two entities.

Not to worry, if it is, there will be no kerfuffle over your hiring.

You probably won't need a lawyer, as long as the provision is on place between the two companies.
 
agree that this needs to get back to the agreement between the two companies -- my husband had this issue and the two companies had to come to an outside agreement for the client to be able to employ my husband.....and this was because of an agreement they had, not something the employEE had.... It does surprise me it would get all the way to an offer before this came up if the hiring company has that type of agreement, but it's possible that legal or finance knows of this but HR/hiring manager might not. So the hiring company needs to check itself for you....
 
Can someone help simplify a yes or no and the why?

Unfortunately this isn't something that anyone here can give you a simple yes or no answer to on the information we have. Colorado law on noncompete agreements is not as clear cut as you'd like it to be. While Colorado law does limit enforceable noncompete agreements to a set of basically 3 situations, if you are in one of those 3 situations there is further analysis that is needed to determine if the noncompete is reasonable as to scope and duration. The three situations are the following:
  • Agreements for the sale of a business or its assets;
  • Agreements to protect the trade secrets of the business; and
  • Agreements that apply to executive and management personnel, and their professional staff.
I don't know if your position at your company would be considered either executive/mangement personnel or part of their professional staff. If you fall into that category, the noncompete portion of the agreement may be enforceable. Also, the agreement you have refers to protecting trade secrets, and a determination would need to be made to determine the extent of that trade secret protection is a concern in your situation. If the agreement is enforceable for either of those two reasons then the next step is determining whether the agreement is reasonable in scope and duration.

And, of course, there also needs to be a determination whether that agreement is a binding contract. You have to have been given something by the company (known in contract law as consideration) in exchange for agreeing to the restrictions the company wanted from you.

Even if the noncompete portion is not enforceable the rest of the agreement may be enforceable.

So you'll need to consult a Colorado employment law attorney for an analysis of all these factors to determine how likely it is that the company can hold you to that noncompete agreement.
 
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