Labor / Employment, On The Job

7 Things To Do (And Not Do) Before Giving Notice

After all you've worked for and suffered through, don't screw up now by making any dumb moves.

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Thinking of quitting? Of moving on to greener pastures? Good for you – you deserve it!

Thinking of grabbing a folder of sample documents, walking out the door, and giving the finger to the boss and all of your miserable co-workers?

Not such a good idea.

In any case, you’ve thought about your future – hopefully a lot – and made a business plan, or at least a wish list of where you want to be in five or ten years. Good for you. Law school taught you something (and when you find out what it is, please let me know!)

But have you thought about the present? That is, what steps you need to take – or want to take – before you give that too-long-in-coming notice that you are quitting?

Employment law is hot these days for many reasons, not least of which is the rapidly changing nature of the economy, the mobility of the workforce and working remotely, and the (sometimes) hit-and-miss legislative efforts to keep up. And at a micro level, all of this affects you and your relationship with employers – past, present, and future.

After all you’ve worked for and suffered in the past, you owe it to yourself not to screw up now by making any false moves – and there are many such moves to make. At the same time, however, there are many things you can or should be actively doing to make your departure and eventual future onboarding easier and legally compliant.

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Here are a few of many tips that may be useful:

  1. Review any agreements that you entered into with your current employer.

Do they contain any provisions that in any way purport to restrict your post-employment activities? Such as restricting who you can work for or where you can work and for how long – e.g., a non-competition covenant? This would be unenforceable as applied to lawyers, but potentially enforceable as applied to other employees.

But for lawyers (and others), you must also look beyond any agreements when it comes to “taking” or “soliciting” clients or other employees – it is a breach of loyalty if you approach clients to “see” if they will come with you if/when you leave, until you have given notice to your current employer. This is something very easy to forget when you are trying to build a future.

  1. Do not use employer resources or facilities to look for new employment.

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While you have a right to seek new opportunities and pursue them while still employed, you do not have a right to do it on your employer’s time, or using his/her/its phone/fax/copying facilities, or any other resources or property belonging to him/her/it.

And beyond this prohibition, know that if you in fact ignore this advice, you may be creating a paper (or digital) trail that will inexorably lead back to you – and potentially make you liable for breaching some agreement or legal obligation. This is perhaps the most dangerous thing you can do – and the basis of many lawsuits.

  1. Do not take what does not belong to you.

Sounds obvious, but this is another fraught area. Do you even know what is yours and what is the employer’s? How about that long memo you wrote chock-a-block with cases and a great disquisition on securities fraud that you want to take with you? Or that thumb drive that you plugged in a while ago? Or a download of all of your contacts or all of the firm’s clients?

Before you take anything, better be sure it belongs to you. This is especially true of intellectual property.

  1. Do not contact or solicit clients, customers or employees about your leaving until you give notice

I noted this above, and this should be a simple one, but it is sooo easy to let it slip to a colleague or a favorite client that you are leaving and going to a competitor and thereby opening yourself up to liability. Keep it zipped.

  1. Take what is rightfully yours before you are shut out of the system.

This is a tricky area because, if you look at point 2, above, it is not so easy to determine what is rightfully yours. But be advised that as soon as you give notice you are likely to be denied access to all firm systems and what is indeed yours may be lost to you.

  1. Be prepared to be escorted out the door.

This could happen. And it could happen very quickly in some places.

So if you have any personal valuables, writings, or other personal things – take them home sooner rather than later. Of course, without arousing suspicion!

  1. Don’t burn bridges.

This is perhaps more important in law than in other industries or professions – you will assuredly run into and/or end up working with/against/for your old crew sometime in the future. Even in Manhattan, with 100,000 lawyers. Guaranteed. So leave on the best terms possible under the circumstances. Easier said than done.

I learned in law school an old Latin adage, which in English is “do not speak evil of the dead.” Insert instead of “dead” the words “people left behind.” If you are resentful, angry or spiteful, remember another old adage: “success is the best revenge.” So smile as you leave!

Perhaps the best thing to make sure that you don’t screw these things up is to remember that you are not outta there until you are truly outta there. So while you are still at the old place, keep your head in the old place.

richard-b-cohenRichard B. Cohen has litigated and arbitrated complex business and employment disputes for almost 40 years, and is a partner in the NYC office of the national “cloud” law firm FisherBroyles. He is the creator and author of his firm’s Employment Discrimination blog, and received an award from the American Bar Association for his blog posts. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @richard09535496.

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