AppleInsider Staff
A Canadian court ruling issued on Tuesday reveals BlackBerry is holding an employment contract over SVP of Software Sebastien Marineau-Mes' head, blocking his departure from the flailing company after being hired away by Apple last year.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice's ruling notes Marineau-Mes discussed leaving BlackBerry in September of 2013 and was formally offered the position of VP of Core OS in December, reports iMore. He accepted and handed in his letter of resignation on Dec. 23.
According to the court document, BlackBerry then sued Marineau-Mes over a breach of contract terms that stipulated the executive needed to provide at least six months notice before leaving the company. That contract was signed in September when the company promoted Marineau-Mes. At the time, BlackBerry was carrying out a freeze on all promotions.
The court sided with BlackBerry and agreed that the software exec needs to stay on for a full six months.
In a statement to iMore, BlackBerry said:
BlackBerry will not stand by while a former employee violates his employment contract. It is unfortunate that we had to take this step, but we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that employees honor the agreements they make with us. When we enter into an agreement with an employee, as we have with Mr. Marineau, we expect him to honor his commitment just as he would expect that we will honor ours. We are pleased that the court has endorsed our position and ruled that the employee contract and its terms are valid.
It is unclear if Apple will wait the four months for Marineau-Mes and what the executive will do at BlackBerry in the meantime.
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
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69 Comments
On the one hand a contract is a contract, but with Marineau-Mes wanting to leave his heart won't be in it. Even if he's an ethical employee he'll be less productive than someone motivated by a company they believe in. Perhaps a buyout would have been better.
They don't want him to miss out on his redundancy package.
Something tells me it won't stop what's gonna happen at either company.
Oh geez, I'm sure he's going to be a model employee and contribute to the staggering morale of a dying company.
On the one hand a contract is a contract, but with Marineau-Mes wanting to leave his heart won't be in it. Even if he's an ethical employee he'll be less productive than someone motivated by a company they believe in. Perhaps a buyout would have been better.
I think they're going to give him the George Costanza/Play Now treatment.
Maybe my math is off, but the article states that he was contractually obligated to give six months notice, and he handed in his letter in December. Doesn't that mean a wait until May...around two months from now? Where is this four months referenced in the last sentence coming from?