Former Telus employee can continue working at Rogers: B.C. court

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled that Telus Corp. can’t stop a former employee from immediately joining Rogers Communications Inc. despite signing a contract that forbids him from jumping ship within a year. The contract Daniel Golberg signed when he joined Telus as vice-president in 2005 included a stipulation that restricted his ability to work in a senior management capacity for a competitor -- in this case, Rogers’ Media division -- in certain provinces within a year of leaving the company, which he did in August. It’s a standard agreement in employment contracts to avoid sensitive information from leaking to a competitor. But a B.C. court earlier this month ruled that the stipulation was overly broad, which included a restriction on working at another company or its subsidiaries “regardless of whether the new position had any relationship to the duties and knowledge that the employee had while employed by the employer,” the court determined. In this case, Golberg was moving over to Rogers Media -- from a position he held at Telus’ telecommunications business. “I accept the evidence of Rick Brace, the president of Rogers Media, that Rogers Media is in the business of creating entertainment, including sports content, and not in the communications business,” Judge Robert Sewell said in the decision. However, Sewell also raised concern about some of Golberg's conduct during this period, including not being transparent with Telus about negotiating terms with Rogers while seeking a termination payment with his current employer. Sewell noted that while this doesn’t constitute unfair competition on Golberg’s part -- and the judge accepted evidence that Rogers will ensure their new hire doesn’t disclose sensitive information, as are his duties -- he is “prepared to entertain” a Telus application for an injunction ensuring Golberg doesn’t leak information to Rogers. "We are pleased with the court's determination that Mr. Golberg breached his fiduciary duties to TELUS and we intend to pursue this to a final determination,"Telus spokesman Richard Gilhooley said in an emailed statement.

Former Telus employee can continue working at Rogers: B.C. court

Brief | October 24, 2018

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Former Telus employee can continue working at Rogers: B.C. court

Brief | October 24, 2018

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