QLD Employment Contract - Old Employer Sending Legal Letters?

[Daniel_87]

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gents,

I recently left a local real estate agency to purchase my own franchise. I was never presented with or signed an employment contract with my last employer.

My business has been running for two months now, a small handful of past clients who were unhappy with the services of my old firm have contacted me directly asking for my services again (they have all offered to put this in writing) I have not actively prospected my past clients, I understand this is wrong.

My previous employer, in an attempt to keep this small amount of business blatantly lied to my clients, defaming me and damaging my reputation. I pushed through this (against my solicitors advice), as everyone who has worked with me saw this as nothing but lies and honestly, I just wanted to get past this and push forward with my work.

Fast forward to today, I've just received a letter claiming I have breached my employment agreement regarding restrictions of trade and use of copyright material (referring to a word document cover letter issued to landlords which contains no logos and is basically the same throughout local agencies). The letter even made mention of a specific section in my non-existent contract regarding this matter which ban's me from operating in a specific location for 12 months.

I have consulted with many people in my industry who have received these notices themselves and most recommend to ignore and not engage. The minority who recommend employing a solicitor to fight back are those with more cash flow than me.

I should note that no compensation is discussed in this letter. However they have requested copies of all signed Form 6 - Authority forms since my business began. I'm not interested in giving this company information to anybody.

What would you recommend?

Many thanks.

 

[Scruff]

My instinct is that the first thing you should do is demand that they provide you with a copy of the employment contract with your signature on it. If they come up with something you think is a forgery, then demand a personal inspection of the original document.

Please note however that I am not a lawyer, so I advise that you wait for the experts to respond and see if they agree. Like I said, my thought here is pure instinct.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Whether you get a solicitor to do it (absolutely recommended) or do it yourself (not recommended), you should be going back to them:

- Seeking a copy of the claimed employment contract, citing that you do not accept that there is any such contract;
- Refuting their claim to copyright in the letter (but you'd better be sure about this); and
- Refusing to give them any documents on the grounds of privacy considerations, amongst other things.

Don't mention this to them, but I suggest you don't hand over any client documents without an appropriate order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

 

[Rod]

I'd add in something about costs should they be found to have no valid enforceable contract.

 

[Daniel_87]

Thank you everybody for your advice, I sincerely appreciate it.

I'll touch base with my solicitor and seek his advice as well.