TEKsystems Sues Vaco Staffers

Employee moves to a competing firm are common in the staffing industry and often occur without controversy. But at some point, multiple hires from the same competitor begin to look, or at least feel, a bit predatory. And if you are one of the largest staffing firms in the world, you may want to draw a line in the sand from time to time. And so TEKsystems has filed a lawsuit (copy attached below) against three former employees now working at rival Vaco (recently rebranded as Highspring), accusing them of breaching their restrictive covenants. The suit targets Collin Thompson, Cyrus Nally, and David Kauff—collectively referred to in the complaint as the “Departed TEK Employees.” All three, according to the complaint, left TEK in recent months to accept positions with Vaco.

The Complaint makes it clear that this is about more than just these three individuals. In a section entitled “Vaco Targets TEK Employees,” TEK outlines a perceived pattern of poaching by former TEK personnel working at Vaco:

64.             Vaco is a direct competitor of TEK, and is the talent solutions division of Highspring, a professional services operation.

65.             Vaco has expertise in accounting, finance, technology and digital, and human resources and operations solutions, and like TEK, provides contract staffing and direct hire solutions to its clients.

66.             Prior to the Departed Employees resigning from TEK to join Vaco, at least four other TEK employees left TEK and now work at Vaco. One of these employees was a high-level director who ran the TEK recruiting delivery center in Lake Mary, Florida, where Thompson and Nally worked for TEK and reported to the same manager.

67.             This former high-level director at TEK also had post-employment obligations similar to Thompson and Nally. Upon information and belief, unlike the Departed TEK Employees, however, these former TEK employees abided by their obligations and waited until the applicable restricted period ended to join Vaco.

68.             This former high-level director at TEK is now the Managing Director of Vaco Orlando, where both Thompson and Nally are currently employed by Vaco.

69. Similarly, the Managing Director of Vaco’s Detroit office, where Kauff works, was a former high-level director at TEK.

The Complaint seeks injunctive relief enforcing the noncompetition and confidentiality terms in the agreements, as well as damages and attorneys fees. SLN will follow the progress of the case and report on any significant developments.