Loyalty Obligation Tension in Engineer A Pre-Departure Solicitation
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/171#Loyalty_Obligation_Tension_in_Engineer_A_Pre-Departure_Solicitation
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Engineer B Brochure-Misrepresenting Terminating Employer Engineer
Balancing with
At-Will Employment Symmetry and Engineer Mobility Right
Former-Client Solicitation Without Active-Contract Supplanting Permissibility Principle
Concrete expression
Engineer A's solicitation of Engineer B's clients while still employed during the notice period creates tension with the loyalty obligation owed to the current employer, though this tension is substantially mitigated by the employer-initiated nature of the termination.
Confidence
0.88
Importance
high
Interpretation
The loyalty principle does not disappear upon receipt of a termination notice, but its weight is significantly reduced when the employer has already signaled the end of the employment relationship; the reciprocity of the at-will employment relationship informs the scope of the remaining loyalty obligation.
Invoked by
Engineer A Pre-Departure Client-Soliciting Termination-Notified Engineer
Tension resolution
The employer-initiated termination substantially reduces the loyalty constraint on solicitation; remaining loyalty obligations are satisfied by not supplanting active contracts and not exploiting confidential information.
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer B notified Engineer A that Engineer B was going to terminate Engineer A because of lack of work. Engineer A thereupon notified clients of Engineer B that Engineer A was planning to start another engineering firm and would appreciate being considered for future work. Meanwhile, Engineer A continued to work for Engineer B for several additional months after the November termination notice.
Text references
Engineer A continued to work for Engineer B for several additional months after the November termination notice.
Engineer A thereupon notified clients of Engineer B that Engineer A was planning to start another engineering firm and would appreciate being considered for future work.
Engineer B notified Engineer A that Engineer B was going to terminate Engineer A because of lack of work.
TTL
@prefix case171: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/171#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case171:Loyalty_Obligation_Tension_in_Engineer_A_Pre-Departure_Solicitation a proeth:Loyalty,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Loyalty Obligation Tension in Engineer A Pre-Departure Solicitation" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer B Brochure-Misrepresenting Terminating Employer Engineer" ;
proeth:balancingwith "At-Will Employment Symmetry and Engineer Mobility Right",
"Former-Client Solicitation Without Active-Contract Supplanting Permissibility Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's solicitation of Engineer B's clients while still employed during the notice period creates tension with the loyalty obligation owed to the current employer, though this tension is substantially mitigated by the employer-initiated nature of the termination." ;
proeth:confidence "0.88" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "171" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-02T14:28:39.943101+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "171" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-02T14:28:39.943101+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The loyalty principle does not disappear upon receipt of a termination notice, but its weight is significantly reduced when the employer has already signaled the end of the employment relationship; the reciprocity of the at-will employment relationship informs the scope of the remaining loyalty obligation." ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Pre-Departure Client-Soliciting Termination-Notified Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Loyalty" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer B notified Engineer A that Engineer B was going to terminate Engineer A because of lack of work. Engineer A thereupon notified clients of Engineer B that Engineer A was planning to start another engineering firm and would appreciate being considered for future work. Meanwhile, Engineer A continued to work for Engineer B for several additional months after the November termination notice." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The employer-initiated termination substantially reduces the loyalty constraint on solicitation; remaining loyalty obligations are satisfied by not supplanting active contracts and not exploiting confidential information." ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A continued to work for Engineer B for several additional months after the November termination notice.",
"Engineer A thereupon notified clients of Engineer B that Engineer A was planning to start another engineering firm and would appreciate being considered for future work.",
"Engineer B notified Engineer A that Engineer B was going to terminate Engineer A because of lack of work." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 171 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-02T14:51:15.274539"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 171 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
171
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-02T14:28:39.943101+00:00
First case
171
Generated
2026-03-02T14:28:39.943101+00:00
Attributed to
Case 171 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-02T14:51:15.274539
Generated by
ProEthica Case 171 Extraction