It’s a hypothetical situation but one of those things that come up in conversation.
A bunch of us were sitting around fantasizing about winning the lottery and how we would spend all that money.
For a few years I had worked part time at a company that sucked. The treated us pretty badly and used every excuse they could find to dock our pay, and they really hated me after I pointed out to them that some of what they were doing could get them in a lot of trouble with the IRS.
We were independent contractors but they were treating us as though we were employees.
Anyway I had said that if I won the lottery I would have walked into work with a butt load of cash in hand and offered everyone 2 years salary in cash (probably about $30,000 apiece for 30 people) if they would walk off the job that night and sign a contract saying they wouldn’t go back to work for that company for at least 2 years.
Having that many people walk out would have put the hurt on the company. Even if they hired 30 people the next day it would take weeks to train them, and from working there I know for every 10 people they hired, 8 would quit in the first week.
Obviously hurting the company would have been my intention, although I supposed I could say I was just being generous with my winnings.
Anyway, just a little revenge fantasy.
Would it have been illegal to offer my co-working money to walk out?
I doubt it, but IANAL. It could be civilly actionable if you were attempting to get employees to violate existing contracts.
And possibly it could be considered a predatory business practice, but if you aren’t competing with the business I don’t see how that would apply.
Also, you’re talking about burning in excess of a million bucks after taxes, and perhaps ruining the lives of many people. Some number of those people will burn through the 30 grand in no time at all, and be unemployed thereafter. Better to wisely invest the money in a new enterprise and hire people at decent wages and provide them good working conditions. If you really want to waste the money, use it to scam the company owners.
A) $1M after taxes doesn’t seem like much at all when you’ve just won the $320M Powerball.
B) If people choose to take a windfall payment and then spend it poorly, that’s not the OP’s fault.
C) With triple-digit millions of dollars left over after crushing the evil company, the OP still has the resources to start another company that treats its employees well. IOW, he can have his cake and eat it too.
The company might be able to sue the generous lottery winner and recover damages – in other words, what you cost them in lost productivity, etc., would be what you might end up having to pay them.
To prove tortious interference, the company would have to generally show:
They had employees
You knew the people you paid were employees
You intended to induce the employees to end their employment
You had no privilege that would allow you to induce such an action
The employee(s) actually ended their employment
The company was damaged as a direct result
Unless the employees had valid contracts, they could leave at any time for any reason. Unless you used really illegal tactics (like kidnapping them all and holding them in a locked room for two years), you’d be in the clear.
We had to sign contracts which outlined the scope of our work and the compensation.
They could let us go at any time for any reason with no notice.
If we left without giving 2 weeks notice they would keep our last paycheck - we were paid weekly.
I got hired when they lost a large number of contractors to a new competitor. Some managers left and took their entire teams with them.
They were told they could never come back but most of them did. Some switched back and forth depending who was paying better, some ended up working for both.
If you won a big enough lottery and the company could be bought easily, why not buy it and fire the jerks that cause you grief? Of course if the owners were also the jerks, buying the company might actually reward them.
I like the idea of setting up a similar company; grabbing their employees with better pay and conditions; and going toe to toe against your former employers. As long as you don’t take client lists and other proprietary information that should be legal.
I think that’s the best solution, too - I know if I was working for a crappy company and I had the chance to go work for another company for more money, you’d see a puff of Cat Whisperer-shaped smoke where I used to be.
I’m a bit confused; all these would apply to a situation where someone (currently employed) was hired through a headhunter to fill a genuine need at the hiring company. And it’s hard to imagine that being illegal. Though maybe I’m not understanding what would give the OP ‘privilege’ to induce the employee to quit?
