'They're threatening to sue my new job for "theft of talent"': System Engineer's new employer gets sued by their last one who laid them off

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Nov 13, 2023 9:00 AM EST

Some people want to have their cake and eat it too—this employer wanted to put their cake out on the street with a sign that said "free" and then sue whoever came along to take that perfectly good cake home with them. Now, it might come as a surprise to you that we're not really talking about cake here at all. No, the cake we're talking about here is a laid-off system engineer who needs to make a living to keep a roof over their family's head, not a deliciously frosted object that can just be cast out and discarded on the street.

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  • If you wanted further evidence that some employers think they own their workers, look no further than the fact that this employer thought that they could lay their system engineer off, and that would be that. Did they honestly think that the engineer was never going to work again? Or just come groveling, crawling on their hands and knees, begging for the chance to be exploited by them again? Even though the employer was the one who ended the employment agreement, they're acting like a jealous ex and can't handle the fact that they don't still have control over the engineer's life. If the engineer was that important, the employer could have kept them on payroll instead of racking up unnecessary legal fees to go after their new employer. Maybe that would have been better—just a thought. 

  • 01
    "They're threatening to sue my new job for 'theft of talent."" 357
    via Christina @ wocintechchat.com
  • 02
    Posted by u/Internal_Swan_5254 Old employer laid me off. Now they're threatening to sue my new job for "theft of talent" This is just so J funny to me. I was working as a systems engineer, one of only three on my team. A year and half ago, I was suddenly laid off, along with one of the other engineers on my team. She and I both worked on the same necessary-to- function system, and no one else at the company knew how to maintain it, so I
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 03
    knew when they pulled us both off the project that they were J around and would soon be finding out. I quickly found a new job which I worked for 6 months before a better offer came along. I moved to this new place and referred my old team mate for another open position there, so we're working together again but in new roles and on a different system.
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 04
    Since then a few other people from my old company have also switched over to this one, but on different teams and different projects from mine. Well, apparently the old job finally noticed where all their terminated employees went because now they're threatening to sue the new place for theft of talent not sure how they think that would work when they terminated us. Guess they've reached the "found out" stage at last.
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 05
    NASA_Herpetologist 18 hr. ago Those termination emails are going to come out in discovery. This is all just hot air. ↑ 5.7k Reply Share OutWith TheNew- 16 hr. ago If they had the evidence to sue, they would have sued and not just threatened to sue. 4682 Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 06
    Deep Extent7859 - 1 day ago Eh, I'm sure someone kept the layoff email. Just send them a copy. ↑ 1.3k ↓ Reply Share Honest Palpitation 91 1 day ago This. 130 Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 07
    series-hybrid 1 day ago. edited 1 day ago There's a strategy going around the C-suites of corporations. If the economy is believed to be bad and workers my not be able to find decent jobs...wait until there's a dip in production, lay them off, and a month later they will be begging to get their old jobs back at a lower pay-rate.
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 08
    A small percentage of the time, this may actually work, but...most of the time the corporation just shot themselves in the foot. Of course, CEO's are not famous for admitting that they made a mistake, so this "bad idea" never has any accurate data to moderate its application.
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 09
    These are peoples' lives they are ruining, and for no good reason. These workers have families, and corporations that experiment with doing this kind of stuff to cut costs and boost short-term profits deserve to pay the piper when it bites them in the ↑ 780 780 Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 10
    Zakkana 1 day ago SocDem You can steal talent from a company that obviously doesn't value it 326 Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 11
    jarena009 1 day ago So the Corp says the talent going elsewhere hurt their finances, and it would have been better for their finances to try to retain, not eliminate, the talent? Self own. 95 + Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 12
    KaleRevolutionary795 1 day ago This is probably not about you,.. this is likely just one company trying to slow down or hinder a competitor. 385 Reply Share Internal Swan_5254 OP 1 day ago ... Oh I don't think it's just about me, however... My new company is not a competitor of the old one at
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 13
    all. Old company does software development. New company is administrative staffing. The other engineer moved to doing data analytics. I moved to doing people management. I can't list out all the changes, but for instance one person went from being a call center agent there to
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 14
    working as an admin assistant here, and he was fired for cause not just laid off, but he's one of the former employees named in the legal filing. There's absolutely no case to be made here, and there's no point to the filing except as a scare tactic. 238 Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 15
    HalfFullPessimist. 1 day ago Companies don't own employees (talent), and therefore, they can't be stolen. ↑ 111 Reply Share pointlessconjecture 1 day ago Exactly. Despite what they think, we're not actually slaves. Reply Share 29
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 16
    Secure_Anything. 1 day ago. edited 21 hr. ago Employee 1: yeah they are a great company to work for, better conditions, better pay, and value their employees. Employee 2: Cool, thanks for letting me know I'll send my CV. Boss: Let's sue them for theft of talent, there is no way that my employees wouldn't be groveling at my feet after I fired them. Reply Share 29 ...
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254
  • 17
    cipherjones 1 day ago "Theft of talent" is the literal J heart and soul of capitalism. Good luck in court, 18 Reply Share
    via u/Internal_Swan_5254

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