Subcontracted employees signing agreement to not work for my client directly and vise versa

[Jacob Smith]

Hi,

I work in the field as a consultant and looking to bring on a couple of 'ghost' report writers to do the work, and then rebrand it as my own. They have no problem with this and is somewhat common in the industry.

However, I have concerns that the following, while unlikely, could happen;

• Either of the ghost report writers decide to work for my main client directly and cut me out
  
  
• My main client decide to cut me out and uses these ghost writers directly (this is unlikely as they will have no direct contact with my client)
  

I don't think this would happen in the near future, but I want to future proof my business. Nevertheless, I was writing to see if there was some sort of contract or agreement I could make each of these ghost report writers sign before they commence? This would be for them to agree to a 3, 6 or 12 month term that they are unable to do any work for any of my clients after they finalise any final reports for them.

Couple of key points;

• Both ghost writers are sub contracted and I pay them a set fee for their service
  
  
• Both myself and them work in Australia
  
  
• Work is somewhat sporadic for them - 1-2 jobs a month - yet I am expecting this to grow to 4-5/month in coming year
  
  
• I could never let my main client know about this or about the ghost writers at least for some time (a year or so)

Would I be better off just not saying anything to the ghost writers, or is there something else that I could do to prevent mutiny among the ranks (both above and below myself).

Thanks in advance.

ROOKIE

 

[Tim W]

Well, for one thing, if they are sub-contractors,
then, absent an exclusive-provider contract, whereby
you pay them enough to be their sole customer,
you don't get to tell them who their other customers can be,
or can ever be.

For another, the terms of your contract(s) with them will need to include provision for
ownership of the IP (in this case, literary works) they create.

Oh, and as to concealing the outsourcing from your client,
and passing off the outsourced work work as your own,
then take care not to fall foul of misleading and deceptive conduct.