Leaving With Your Team: When a CEO or MD Faces an Injunction
This article is for you if:
You are leaving a senior role and colleagues may join the same competitor.
You are being accused of poaching staff, clients or confidential information.
An injunction letter has arrived and its deadline is frighteningly short.
Several people can independently choose to leave the same employer. That is not automatically an unlawful team move. The real questions are who initiated each conversation, what was said, when it happened and whether company information helped the new employer.
For a CEO, MD or director, the position can change across four periods:
Period | What usually matters most |
|---|---|
Before notice | Fidelity, confidentiality, contractual duties and any director duties |
Notice or garden leave | Employment continues; instructions and duties usually still apply |
After termination | Each non-compete, non-solicitation, non-dealing and non-poaching clause has its own scope and duration |
After restrictions expire | Trade secrets and some confidentiality obligations may remain |
Acas explains that garden leave keeps the employee employed, unlike a payment in lieu that normally ends employment immediately. That timing can decide whether a conversation occurred during employment or under a post-termination covenant.
Caira can read uploaded service agreements, garden-leave letters and equity-plan rules, then place the relevant restrictions into one comparison table.
Three situations that look similar—but are not
An operations director tells two colleagues, “I am moving; I would love you to come too,” before resigning. No files change hands. The absence of copied data helps, but the message may still engage fidelity duties or a non-poaching clause.
A future employer asks an executive for current salaries and bonus expectations. The executive forwards an internal compensation sheet. Even if the employees already wanted to move, the disclosure creates a separate confidentiality issue.
A former CEO announces a new job on LinkedIn. A colleague sees it and applies independently. A public announcement is not necessarily solicitation, but timing alone may prompt an allegation. Preserve the message showing who contacted whom.
What a court may examine
In Guy Carpenter & Co Ltd v Willis Ltd [2026] EWHC 361 (KB), the High Court examined alleged coordinated recruitment, remuneration information, client business, causation and the length of proposed relief. Some conduct was admitted, but the court still had to ask whether it caused resignations and what unlawful advantage remained. An injunction is meant to control a legally relevant risk or remove an unfair head start—not simply punish departure.
A covenant is not automatically void because it is broad. In Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32, the Supreme Court addressed when problematic wording can be severed. Enforceability still turns on the wording, legitimate interest and factual context.
If you are also a director, sections 172–176 of the Companies Act 2006 can add duties concerning the company’s success, conflicts, information and opportunities.
If an urgent letter arrives
Separate the letter into facts alleged, clauses relied on, evidence demanded, undertakings requested, deadline and any actual hearing date. A threat is not a court order. An issued application should have court papers, evidence and a proposed order.
Do not delete messages, reset devices or “tidy” accounts. Preserve originals. Build a chronology recording each approach, recruiter message, meeting, resignation and document transfer. Caira can turn uploaded correspondence and a chronology spreadsheet into a plain-English allegations-and-evidence table, helping you respond to facts without casually adopting labels such as “solicitation”.
Compare every proposed undertaking with the contract. A promise not to employ anyone may be wider than a clause not to solicit them. Check named people, clients, affiliates, duration, start date and any garden-leave offset.
Questions you may be nervous to ask
Can colleagues resign on the same day?
Yes. Simultaneous timing may be evidence of coordination, but it does not prove unlawful recruitment by itself.
Is a LinkedIn connection solicitation?
Not necessarily. A passive connection, general announcement and targeted invitation are different acts. Keep the actual messages.
Is salary information really confidential?
It can be. An internal pay sheet, bonus data or performance assessment is much riskier than a colleague voluntarily stating their own expectations.
Would deleting awkward messages help?
No. Deletion can damage credibility, destroy relevant evidence and make a manageable dispute worse.
Caira offers easy-to-understand help with uploaded documents and drafting; there is a 14-day free trial, then plans from about £15 a month.
This article is general information for England and Wales, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice. Check contractual wording, dates and figures against the original documents.
