International Business Machines Corp. criticized Microsoft's hiring of its director of diversity in a case that raises the hiring and promotion of an inclusive workforce in the protection of patented technology.
IBM states that information held by Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, including confidentiality data about diversity, strategies and initiatives, may cause "real and immediate competitive harm" if it is authorized to immediately switch to Microsoft. IBM sued to enforce a one-year non-compete agreement.
While the lawsuit highlights the dispute that may arise when a high-ranking employee targets a competitor, it also highlights the increasingly important role played by diversity measures in US companies. Technology and financial companies have been struggling in the past for employees who have key technical or strategic expertise, not for those who have been responsible for making decisions about hiring and workforce composition.
IBM is wrongly attempting to apply a "non-broad" non-competition clause against an employee who has not taken confidential information, McIntyre's lawyers said in court documents.
"IBM is surprisingly looking for a draconian interim injunction and preliminary injunction to prevent McIntyre from working, for an entire year, in any position, anywhere in the world, for any company that IBM sees as a "competitor" in any dimension "he added. the lawyers said
US District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti temporarily banned McIntyre from switching to Microsoft following his lawyers' objections and scheduled a conference on February 22.
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"McIntyre was at the center of the highly confidential and competitive information that drove IBM's success" in diversity and inclusion, the company said in a statement. "While we understand Microsoft's need to respond to growing criticism of its diversity record, IBM intends to fully implement Ms. McIntyre's non-compete agreement to protect our competitive information."
In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in White Plains, New York, IBM highlighted Microsoft's attempts to keep the details of its diversity efforts secret. In a separate lawsuit, accusing Microsoft of discriminating against women in technical and engineering positions, the Redmond, Wash.-Based company insisted that internal communications and documents on its diversity data and strategies be ranked because they are very sensitive.
According to Evan Starr, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, non-competition clauses are commonplace in the technology industry and affect most employees.
"Many companies, especially in the technology industry, have signed these contracts by almost everyone," Starr said. "It's a general thing to which everyone is subject."
Executive Positions
Microsoft announced on Sunday that it had hired McIntyre, who spent more than two decades at IBM, where she held executive positions, including vice president of human resources, before being named the director of diversity and vice-president. President of Succession Planning.
McIntyre has overseen the teams responsible for developing artificial intelligence-based tools and methods used to track professional development, recommend growth and promotion opportunities, and measure diversity indicators, IBM said.
A mother of three young children and the main source of income at home, McIntyre sought and partially accepted the role of Microsoft because it would allow her to move her family from New York to Washington, a few hours from her parents and other family members. the lawyers said
The trade secrets associated with IBM diversity are not valuable to Microsoft and McIntyre could not use them in his new role, his lawyers said. In addition, there is a "growing trend of transparency" in the technology industry with respect to diversity initiatives and most companies publish information publicly to attract candidates, according to McIntyre's lawyers.
Microsoft was sued two years ago by three women who accused the software maker of maintaining an abusive and toxic "boy's club" atmosphere where women are ignored, abused or degraded. According to docu
