CCBill filed suit in Arizona last week alleging that Curran’s new position at Paycom was a breach of his employee contract and confidential disclosure agreement. The suit alleges that Curran used company information to shift business from CCBill to Paycom.
However, Joel Hall, president of Paycom, told XBIZ that no wrongdoing has taken place and that the lawsuit against his company and new employee Curran is “baseless, overreaching, unenforceable and draconian.”
Hall told XBIZ that his company had filed a preemptive suit in both California and Arizona in anticipation of CCBill’s lawsuit, defending Curran’s right to work where he wants to.
Curran is currently employed as Paycom’s chief administrative officer after serving as CCBill’s vice president of human resources from 2001.
CCBill claims that Paycom was aware of Curran’s agreement and proceeded to employ him regardless. CCBill is seeking compensatory damages.
“I just know that Patrick is not the kind of person who steals or cheats or lies, and we plan to defend this,” Hall said. “We prefer to go about running our business and don’t consider this much of a distraction for us. I think that when CCBill realizes the same, they will continue running their business as well. This was anticipated and we’re going to back work.”
While California will not enforce a noncompete agreement against employees, California employers can still use a confidentiality nondisclosure agreement to protect company information.