Can a client hire away a long-time contractor of ours without paying our company compensation?
We have a long-time contractor (several years) who mostly does work for our consulting company. Our client likes her very much and wants to hire her permanently. Should the client pay us compensation? If it goes through, we will be losing a valued resource. However, she is not technically an employee.
You see her as a valued resource that you did NOT make her an employee......right! The answer to your question is....YES! The client can hire her away without payment to you unless your Contractor agreement specifically says otherwise. Looks like your client "values" her more than your company does! Good for her!
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It just occurred to me that your "Consulting/Contract Agreement" with the CLIENT has more weight in answering your question than the Contractor Agreement. ...so you should have those looked at also.
Emerson, what a great response!
You should check the consulting agreement you have with this contractor to see if she is under confidentiality restrictions. It is possible that she is prohibited from taking trade secrets of other knowledge gained while under your engagement to a third party. I would have this checked by counsel. Of course you run the
