Former employer withholding owed money
Left an employer at the end of August. Because of an existing non-solicitation contract, I refused to divulge where I was going to either employer or customers, so that there would be no concerns over that.
Shortly after I left, I emailed employer regarding a sum of money owed me from a previous bonus (and had the trails of emails regarding it). His response was an immediate blowup and very threatening, stating that it was the intent of the company to enforce all parts of the non-solicitation/NDA, and essentially that it would be withheld to ensure the company suffered no damages. While I do not believe there are any grounds for his concern or grounds for withholding that payment, I do not want to risk being taken to court because of it (regardless of the outcome, which I absolutely believe I would win--I just don't want that headache).
Any thoughts?
highly likely non-enforceable
Here in WA state, there was a landmark case at our Supreme Court a year ago that essentially stated that if a restrictive covenant was signed after employment, there must be certain things in it as "compensation" for the employee over and above what would be recieved as normal course of employment.
It does not include those. Additionally, he had purchased the company just prior to this ruling (so likely these facts may not have been detected by his lawyer), and these covenants were transferrable from old employer to new. Correct me if wrong, but then, since there were no changes since the transfer, he is somewhat bound by the previous owner's actions regarding the covenants. There was no attempt by prior ownership to enforce.
So, lots of things going my way, but again, trying to avoid litigation (he has money, so a prolonged case would not affect him like it would me).