> Linkedin Invitations Do Not Violate Noncompetes

Source: Electronics Representatives Association, The Representor, Fall 2017

A panel of the Illinois Appellate Court has held that networking with a former colleague on social media does not amount to a violation of a noncompete agreement. Howe & Hutton, Ltd., a Chicago law firm whose clients include many not-for-profit trade associations, reported in a recent newsletter on a case involving a former employee of an insurance company who was sued by that company for violating a noncompete agreement when he invited three of the company’s current employees to connect on social media. The court’s opinion included the caution that, “as social networking websites continue to grow, the issue of social network usage will repeatedly arise in noncompete cases.” Howe & Hutton lists several key facts in the court’s decision in this case, i.e., that the LinkedIn page didn’t mention either the worker’s former employer company or his new employer company, contained no suggestion that anyone view the worker’s job description and offered no solicitation for anyone to leave his former employer company.

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