I'm thinking of starting a tech help buisness.... need some advice/legal info!

[Vesayen]

Neither, lol. I meant there is nothing against quitting my job and doing this... I am not going to do work for people while I am employed.

[KrazyHorse]

Again, the chances of anybody coming after you for this are remote.

It's difficult for an employer to prove that you used company time for a personal business.

For instance, if you were an executive at an ad firm who decided to quit his job and start his own company you would legally be allowed to contact all your old accounts after quitting and try to convince them to switch companies. You could not, however, get their contact information by writing down their names and numbers on company time and then using this list. What you are legally allowed to do is to go home after work hours and write the numbers out from memory.

The likelihood that the company would be able to prove you had written down the numbers at work would be remote, unless there was some sort of electronic record (email to yourself or contacts copied onto floppy, etc.).

Unless you had a no competition clause in your contract you'd be fine (not to say that the company wouldn't try to harass or intimidate you through legal action).

[Vesayen]

What is a no competition clause?

[KrazyHorse]

My advice to you would be to just go ahead and do this work for the people and not say a word about it to anybody working at the store. Also make sure that the people understand you don't want it getting back to your boss.

I am doubtful that you could get enough business before the summer is over to equal the earnings you will get from a steady job. A good time to start building the business would be during the school year (when you don't want too much work anyway).

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Vesayen
What is a no competition clause?

Saying that you won't work for the competition (or start your own competing business) within X months/years of leaving the company.

Most employees do not have to sign such a contract. Only people in certain fields will encounter one.

My father was working for a company on commission a few years ago (they were apparently total douchebags who didn't actually fulfill the contracts they received etc). After a while, one of the employees left to start his own company doing the exact same thing. The next week my father's boss came to him and asked him to sign a no competition clause. Needless to say, my father said "I'll think about it", and as soon as he had received the commissions he was owed he jumped ships and bought in as half owner of the new company.

He might have pulled some shady **** (I have no clue, and don't want to know) with client lists etc., but given the sleaziness of the old company (and the fact that he could probably have made a good case to the police against his old boss for fraud if he wanted to) the chances of the old company coming after him were remote (the old company is now out of business, and apparently left both employees and customers high and dry, while his old boss made out like a bandit).

[Vesayen]

I read my employee contract carefully... when I was in highschool I had a temporary cashiering job where the company claimed right to ALL PATENTS you had during your employment and for 24 months after....... there is no competition clause. I don't need/want my companies info to find customers.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Vesayen
I read my employee contract carefully... when I was in highschool I had a temporary cashiering job where the company claimed right to ALL PATENTS you had during your employment and for 24 months after....... there is no competition clause. I don't need/want my companies info to find customers.

Looks to me like you're golden

[Vesayen]

Or slight orange, lol.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Vesayen
Anyone have any advice on how to cover my ass from liability of breaking something-or my customer thinking I broke something was already broken? Where/how do I get an indemnification form?

Check on the Web to see if you find anything suitable. Maybe ask a lawyer to look it over for you once you start doing jobs that may break things. Right now, running cables and clamping on jacks won't destroy any of your clients' stuff. Running scanners on computers, now there's a risk involved. Suppose the client has got some files deleted by malware, and then you come in to do the cleaning. You could get blamed for that.