strickln@ihlpa.UUCP (stricklen) (09/29/85)
My brother works as a driver-salesman for a beer distributor in the Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida area. This is the second such firm he has worked for in Florida. Before moving south, he worked more than eight years for distributors in Rockford, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Only the Rockford firm had union representation. The first Tampa employer required my brother to sign an employment aggreement forbidding him to go to work for a competitor (defined as anyone distributing beer in a list of Florida counties) for a period of one year following his resignation. This was justified in the text of the agreement by the company's reputation, goodwill and extensive training program. My brother was offered no training program. He has come to find out that this same employer hired persons who refused to sign this agreement. As my brother had previously worked for distributors of the same products, he knows something of their product dating schemes. Although this par- ticular brewery requires all packages to be sold within ninety days of the production date, my brother says it was not unusual for them to sell 10 month-old packages to retailers. He said there were even known cases of persons getting ill from ingesting their products. Because he could find similar work for considerably higher wages, he left this distributor for another. Now, after about four months at the new job, the previous employer has filed a suit for breach of contract asking for $5000 in damages and removing him from the new firm's employ. Because of this litigation my brother's new employer has reas- signed him to warehouse work for roughly half the salary until it is all settled. My folks have retained an attorney to help him. My father, as he has worked in personnel, thought he might be able to find a loophole by talking with EEOC. He knew my brother did not make very much and thought the employer might have broken some minimum pay restriction. After calling EEOC he found my brother was classified as an operative, semi-skilled and was subject to no minimum pay restrictions. Is there anyone in NETLAND with experience in the applicable US and/or Florida laws which may apply to this case? Does anyone have any insight as to the legality of the previous employer's position or the present employer's reaction to it? Thanks in advance for your assistance in this matter. Steve Stricklen AT&T Bell Laboratories ihnp4!ihlpa!strickln