Peninsula Group wins multi-million dollar employment law case

MANCHESTER, England and SYDNEY, Sept. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Employsure Australia, part of the Peninsula Group, has won a landmark judgement with global implications concerning employment contracts.

The decision was handed down by the NSW Supreme Court in the case of Employsure Ltd v McMurchy; Employsure Ltd v Kumaran [2021] NSWSC 1179 and means former employees of Employsure are now bound by an injunction preventing them from joining a competitor and using confidential information.

The Court found that two former employees, a senior manager and a sales employee, had breached their contracts and fiduciary duties by deciding to take up and commence employment with ELMO Software, a direct competitor of Employsure and its BrightHR service.

ELMO Software was found to have induced David McMurchy and Arumugam Kumaran into breaching their contracts and soliciting other, current Employsure employees to join them with the launch of BreatheHR into the Australian market.  

The Court accepted that the restrictions in Employsure's contracts of employment were all valid and will now proceed to deal with multi-million-dollar damages and costs.

David Price, CEO at Employsure, says: "We thank and congratulate all involved in this decision and welcome the NSW Court's recognition and endorsement of the need to protect our legitimate business interests."

Whilst not binding on the UK and Irish courts, this judgment is likely to have cross-jurisdictional application given the legal principles involved.

Peter Done, CEO at the Peninsula Group says: "This decision is particularly important for small businesses, which often have the most to lose from contract breaches. I hope the ruling will give employers in Australia and worldwide the confidence to stand up to underhand behaviour and hold competitors and former employees to account."

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