Former Wipro SVP Haque challenges non-compete lawsuit, cites forensic audit in defence

Wipro initiated legal action against Haque in a New Jersey court on 22 December 2023, accusing him of breaching non-compete clauses by joining their direct competitor, Cognizant, as chief commercial officer in August 2023, shortly after leaving Wipro in June 2023.

Haque has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and said that Wipro’s allegations of him transferring confidential files to his personal account were baseless. He argued that Wipro failed to mention that it had conducted a complete third-party forensic examination of his personal computer and personal email accounts before his exit from the company and had found nothing to suggest that he was in possession of any confidential information for his personal use.

Additionally, Haque’s legal team has argued that he never signed an employment agreement containing non-compete clauses with Wipro, challenging the basis of Wipro’s lawsuit.

In his reply, Haque has proposed arbitration, pointing out his equity award agreements with Wipro allow for such a process. 

Also, Haque’s legal team has urged the transfer of the case to a court in California, where Haque resides and as Wipro’s alleged breach of covenants took place there.

“California has a strong local interest in deciding this matter because it has a strong public policy against non-compete agreements and, given that California law is likely to apply in this matter in light of the alleged “breach” having occurred in California, a California court would have more familiarity with California law,” said Haque’s reply.

Non-competition agreements have been deemed void in California since 1 January 2024, as claimed by the defence lawyers.

The legal teams representing both parties include New Jersey-based Saiber LLC for Haque and Palo Alto-based Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for Wipro.

Requests for comments from both Wipro and Haque went unanswered.

Wipro’s pursuit of legal action against former high-level employees for joining rivals is not unprecedented, with the company previously seeking damages from its former chief financial officer Jatin Dalal for similar reasons. The case was eventually referred to arbitration by the Bengaluru district court in an order dated 3 January 2024.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji defended the use of employee contracts, including non-compete clauses, as standard industry practice. 

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Published: 02 Feb 2024, 05:13 PM IST