Question:
I want to give more detail. My question was from the employee’s perspective. This is the story.
My wife quit her job from employer A and applied for a job at applied for a job at employer B, (She was not solicited by employer B, she reached out to employer B on her own). Employer B really wants to hire her but he told her that she has to wait till July because he is intimidated by employer A (They are brother-in-laws). There seem to be some sort of understanding between them that they won’t hire each other’s workers. I believe that employer B doesn’t really want this agreement he just feels that he has no choice (in order to keep peace within the family).
In any case my wife very much wants to work for company B and she decided to wait it out till July. However, right now she is unemployed and she will be losing thousands of dollars in lost wages.
So basically, employer A’s threating or
intimidating employer B into not hiring my wife is causing her monetary damage.
My question is:
a) Did employer A have a right to do what he did?
Does my wife have the right to demand (in Beis
Din) that he must retract from insistence that employer B shouldn’t hire me?
b) In a case where the companies have an official
signed agreement not to hire each other’s workers. Is it allowed? Are they allowed to make an agreement Bemokom Shchav Leachrina?
Answer:
According to Torah law they can make such an agreement. I doubt you’d get far in court since you can’r really prove it and it would be osur since what they’re doing is not a violation of Torah law. It anyway prob isn’t wise forcing someone to hire you and/or make a family fight.
