Tesla sues ex-employee for hacking, theft, and leaking to the press

Tesla recently claimed that a Chinese company had hired a Tesla employee for the purpose of obtaining trade and other secrets that were the property of Tesla. Apparently the employee had downloaded a great deal of sensitive material before leaving Tesla and it was feared the Chinese company would make use of this information for it's own benefit.

This is obviously a serious matter since it throws into question the ethics of the Chinese company involved and creates the potential for a damaging and expensive law suit.

Hiring employees for competitors to obtain secrets is not an uncommon practice. Any Chinese company hiring an employee from a competing company, or a company whose technology might have applications in the Chinese company even if the companies do not compete, might open the Chinese company to similar complaints.

What steps can a Chinese company which wishes to ethically hire such an employee do to avoid litigation or other problems?

First, in interviewing a potential hire you might ask if the prospect has any secret information from his former employer that he or she can provide to you if hired. If the prospect says "yes" you should terminate the interview and not hire the prospect.

There are three reasons for this: 1. Such a transfer of information is illegal and unethical. 2. If the person you are interviewing is willing to betray a former employer then it is highly likely they would betray your company if a good opportunity should present itself in the future. 3. Hiring such an employee would expose your company to expensive litigation and damage to your reputation.

If you were actually willing to take an action that is illegal and unethical and were willing to risk the cost of litigation and damage to your reputation then I would suggest you simply pay the person for the information and NOT hire that person.

To me hiring such a person is very similar to a situation where you are having an affair with a married woman (or man). Would you ask that person to get a divorce and marry you? I would hope your answer is no since such a person is highly likely to be unfaithful to you should a better opportunity come along in the future!

Assuming you do not want to get involved in anything illegal or unethical and assuming the prospect you are interviewing says they "would not disclose any confidential information from their former employer even if you hire them" then you should make clear that you are not interested in obtaining such information illegally and you are glad they answered the way they did.

If you decide to hire the person you might consider sending a letter to the former employer (perhaps the CEO or at least the Personnel Department) advising them you are hiring the person and that in the interview process you asked if they would disclose confidential information and they said "no." Make clear that you would not have hired them had they said "yes."

You might add that if they do have confidential information, trade secrets, etc. that might be useful to your company without damaging their company, and they were willing to share such information, then you would be happy to meet with them and discuss a licensing arrangement.

I believe taking the steps described above would clearly establish that you are acting in a highly ethical manner and would provide valuable 'evidence' should the question of litigation ever arrise.

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