Two national home hospice providers are grappling for Maine territory in a federal lawsuit that claims an employee violated noncompetition and confidentiality agreements.
Atlanta-based Gentiva Hospice says a former employee of its Brewer operation shared client referral sources and other proprietary information when she helped Utah-based Bristol Hospice set up shop in Bangor last summer, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Gentiva alleges that Erica Lilly, a registered nurse administrator, shared “trade secrets” when she went to work for Bristol last spring – in violation of federal and state law – and that she contacted numerous former coworkers “for the specific purpose of inducing them to leave their employment at Gentiva and become employees at Bristol.”
One former coworker said Lilly told her “because of my noncompete, I won’t be able to recruit (you) myself, so if someone else calls, answer the phone.” The …