A regional vice president directly supervised thirtyfour employees and had indirect supervision of more than 400 others. She also managed an annual budget of $20 million and made company policy in her regional facility. When offered a vice presidency at a higher salary with her employer’s competitor, the vice president not only jumped ship, but she also induced seventeen key employees, who reported to her, to go along with her. Because she was well aware of all their compensation packages, she was able to help the competitor carefully tailor its counteroffers for maximum efficiency of results in luring them away.

Do you believe the vice president owed a fiduciary duty or other duty of loyalty to her employer, such that she should be enjoined from stealing away those seventeen key employees? If so, should the injunction extend to the competitor, or is the competitor merely an innocent bystander?

Is the salary information available to the departing vice president a trade secret of her current employer? If so, how should the court prevent her from taking unfair advantage of this knowledge when seeking to hire away other employees to the competitor? See GAB Business Services, Inc. v. Lindsey & Newsom Claim Services, Inc. [83 Cal. App. 4th 409 (2000)].