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When departing employees breach their contractual restraints, seeking an injunction won't often be the best way to respond, a workplace lawyer says.

According to Dentons partner Paul O'Halloran, many employers hold the view that if an employee leaves to join a competitor, taking staff or clients with them, there's not much point in taking action because restraint of trade clauses have no primacy.

"That is a wrong conclusion to make," he tells HR Daily.

Courts do sometimes rule in an employer's favour – outcomes reported by HR Daily include a $270k damages order in May, which was upheld on appeal this month; and interlocutory orders restraining a former employee from soliciting clients and staff.

However, O'Halloran isn't recommending that more employers "rush to the Federal Court or the Supreme Court and get an urgent injunction"...