Aon Cries Foul Over Mass Defection of Employees to Alliant

Alleging breach of contract, conspiracy and other charges in what Aon calls a “mass defection” of Aon employees and clients, two Aon units have sued several former executives and their new employer, Alliant Insurance Services Inc.

Source: Source: Business Insurance | Published on June 17, 2011

Aon Risk Services Cos. Inc. and Aon Risk Insurance Services West Inc., in their lawsuit filed in Chicago, alleged that the former executives violated their employment agreements with Aon. The group includes Peter Arkley, who resigned as chairman and CEO of Aon’s construction services group earlier this week to head Alliant’s construction practice.

Aon alleges that the former executives conspired with Alliant, based in Newport, California, to solicit at least 40 other employees of Aon’s construction services group to quit Aon and join Alliant, using “confidential and proprietary employee information such as Aon salaries, benefits and other employee information.”

More than 40 construction group employees have left Aon, according to the Chicago-based brokerage.

Aon in its suit seeks unspecified economic and punitive damages. It also seeks injunctions to forbid the former executives from competing for Aon’s construction business for two years following the termination of their employment, from soliciting Aon employees for the same period of time and from disclosing any of Aon’s confidential and trade secret information.

“The complaint speaks for itself,” said a spokesman for Aon.