When WOWemployers.com goes live on Thursday, it is taking on Monster.com in
more ways than one.
The online career center, founded by a former Monster.com president, is
being sued and was issued a cease-and-desist order prior to its start. The
legal action was put into effect by Monster parent company TMP Worldwide in
an Indianapolis-based State Court.
WOWemployer.com’s president, Bill Warren, the WOW Network and several
employees are being charged with violating certain trade secrets as well as
disrespecting signed non-competitive agreements, according to Evan Kornrich,
director of litigation, TMP Worldwide.
“Like all companies in this industry, Monster.com takes seriously the
protection of its trade secrets and other contractual commitments,” he said.
“We are seeking to protect our trade secrets as well as the integrity of the
agreements signed by former employees.”
Courtroom tactics be damned, the site will launch tomorrow, according to
Warren. “Monster.com is trying to keep us out of the marketplace and I will
not let them do that,” he said. “They are trying to burden us with expense
and paperwork.”
According to Warren, his competitor is daunted by his staff selection,
which includes 28 former Monster.com employees. “They know that we have an
experienced team so they are claiming that we raided their employees,”
Warren said. “That is simply not true. The reason these employees left
Monster is because they have horrendous internal problems that no human
resource specialist would want to be involved in.”
Services provided by WOWemployers.com vastly differs from Monster’s
business model, Warren adds. “We are a human capital management system,
Monster.com is a job board,” he said. “We are an Application Service
Provider and will serve as a source for companies to automate their internal
and external recruitment.
“Our site will provide recruiters and hiring managers with Internet-based
desktop tools for automating, managing and monitoring internal and external
processes and providing a link with external service providers,” he added.
“Our plan is to cut down the time from when a job is posted and a position
is filled by 80 percent. We will deliver pre-qualified, pre-tested
candidates to the recruiter. The days of sorting through mountains of
resumes is over.”
Kornrich states that the case will go to trial soon. “We are seeking
expedited discovery and expect to begin taking depositions over the next few
weeks,” he said. “I anticipate that we will be in the courtroom sometime
next month.”
Warren says he is presently filing interrogatories to resolve the case
before it goes to trial. However, he seems anxious to take on a courtroom
battle.
“Monster has to prove their allegations are true, which they can’t,” he
said. “In fact, as part of this legal action, they filed suit against a
former Monster.com employee who has yet to join the WOW Network.”