#springboarding

Rise and shine at eight in the morning on a work day

The time is right to begin the day writing

A young woman has spilled ink and shown the world her dreams

A woman of worth

Both materialistically and spiritually wealthy

Memories

brought to light again in the falling snow

I'm so glad

that once in person

it was her

I was fortunate enough to meet

And at her sold out show in Toronto

I had the opportunity to be seated on floors in a close up decent seat

Hearing her was sweet

And it was an honour to see such a fashionable woman dressed in such elegant clothes

Tara

Recite to your audience one of your lovely poems

poetry woman

Recite to your audience your poems of hardship and of earthly delights

Over the hills and far away

is where everyone is going when you step up to the mic

Look to the future

You are young

you still have time

You have a lifetime before you to live unchained and free

Life tried but was unsuccessful in smashing your dreams

Not one of them was broke

And about all of them to the world you spoke

Free for eternity

Born free

And free you will always be

Face to face

In peace falling asleep at night as a poetry star

here on earth and in distant worlds far off in outer space

Tara

From the rich estates

And also among the subway scientists

there are many who are fascinated with your trials and tribulations and strife

Coming back from watching the waves in the Maldives

that now threaten to take you away from the rest of us for life

Poetess

express yourself

reveal your thoughts to the world and let them be known

To think you are so unique

And chosen by God with a divine purpose

Together with the masses

a brighter light has never shone

Recite to your audience one of your lovely poems

poetry woman

Recite to your audience your poems of hardship

and of earthly delights

Over the hills and far away

is where everyone is going when you step up to the mic

At the concert halls

the fans will show up on any day

And it makes her fairy godmother manager feel fine

A poetry queen

Seen

Securing her place along side the earliest known writer

the great Enheduanna for all time

And the snow in Ontario falls like no tomorrow

Rupi Kaur has no fear

She has reached her destiny after travelling far

by train, plane and car

Always somewhere

Tara...

-Walter

Introduction to Springboarding

"How to stop your former employee from taking unfair advantage over your business post-termination. Springboarding occurs when a former employee, partner, contractor, agent, or director, immediately after the resignation or termination, decides to set up the same business, within the same geographical area to compete with their former employer, contact the previous employer’s customers, and poach their existing staff using the inside knowledge gained during their tenure with the employer in order to gain an unfair advantage over the former employer".

In this serious of articles, we will explore how employers can protect their businesses from springboarding and employees, directors, agents etc. can safely embark on a new business venture without breaking the laws of employment, privacy, and competition.

Read Time: 3 minutes

What is on this page?

Introduction to Springboarding

Post Employment Restrictions for Springboarding

Benefits of non-competing contracts or terms

Alternative to Non-Competing Agreements

What Would you do next?

Post-Employment Restrictions for Springboarding

Generally, the employers will incorporate conditions within the employment law

which imposes post-employment restrictions on the employee. Employer and employee can also agree on a separate non-competing agreement which will be in addition to the employment contract and employee handbook.

The terms incorporated in the employment contract or non-competing agreement will impose post-employment restrictions on former employees from working for competitors or defined groups of competitors for a specified time. It also covers things such as;

Trade connection

Trade secret and confidential information

Contacting existing clients

Poaching existing employees

Setting up the same business within a certain area

In case of a potential dispute the burden of proof is on the employer to prove the infringement, hence It is incumbent on the employer, firstly to fully understand the scope of the restrictions on spring boarding and secondly to ensure that the rights and obligations

and terms are reasonable and are not too wide. It is important to note that an unreasonable or wide condition will nullify the whole non-competing section or the stand-alone agreement.

Benefits of non-competing contracts or terms

Non- competing agreements or terms protect the employer’s standing within the business sector. It offers greater assurance that the company's intellectual property, rights, confidential information are intact. Strategically it ensures that the proprietary information will not be made available to or used by a competitor.

Alternative to Non-Competing Agreements

There are other methods to restrict a formal employee other than having non-compete clauses within an employment contract, such as:

Legal agreements not to solicit clients

Confidentiality agreement

The doctrine of Inevitable disclosure

The doctrine of inevitable disclosure gives rise to the implied condition that the former employee will not disclose the trade secrets or inside knowledge with the competitor. The doctrine is invoked after an employee who is not bound by a non-compete agreement

joins a competitor. The former employer may assert that there is an implied non-compete term because the former employee will unavoidably be deemed to disclose sensitive information.

Career Lessons from You Tube Creators

I enjoy watching You Tube videos. There are a lot of great channels on the platform from the PBS Digital Studio[1] to single creator channels like Vsauce[2] and Lindsay Ellis[3]. Recently, there has been a shift on You Tube though. Channels seem to be either recycling content or moving on to new topics.

You Tube has changed in the last five years from a creator focused platform to a curated…