So is it illegal for companies to approach people about different job opportunities? Or is it the tactics used by Apple that give A123 the right to sue them?
I think poaching is good in many cases, since hiring someone away from their current company usually means a higher price for their services. This means that you're moving developers to where they're most productive for the market as a whole.
The problem is this:
> in violation of their employment agreements
It's very possible to break an employment contract by leaving to go work somewhere else. These might not hold up in court (depends on the state), or Apple might just pay whatever fine the court levies.
IANAL, but my guess would be that the case is based on Apple allegedly inducing one of the A123 engineers to recruit other engineers into Apple. I don't know if that is actionable, though.
According to [1] the action is in the Massachusetts District Court, Boston. Looks like the details are paywalled inside Pacer.
[1] http://dockets.justia.com/docket/massachusetts/madce/1:2015c...
No, the opposite.
> Or is it the tactics used by Apple that give A123 the right to sue them?
The text seems to indicate this is related to some sort of non-compete clause (" The engineers jumped ship to pursue similar programs at Apple, in violation of their employment agreements"). I don't think it would fly in CA (where NCC requirements are rather stringent) but no idea for Mass.
In these sorts of cases, it's a race to the courtroom. If the non-CA based company wins, they get to enforce their non-competes against those who signed them, to the extent they're reasonable.