If a court finds that a non-compete obligation is too broad, it may limit the scope and duration of the agreement and apply it as amended, or it may refuse to fully enforce the agreement if it considers that it was clearly intended to prevent legitimate commercial competition from the former employee. There are limited situations in which a reasonable non-compete clause may apply in California. Legally, no, but it may give you an indication that the employer does not see the cost and risk of trying to enforce the agreement as it is worthwhile. It may also be that the employer has decided that the agreement is likely to be unenforceable anyway. Unfortunately, this is not a guarantee that the employer will not try to apply it in your case. Before you consciously decide to breach a non-compete obligation to which you are subject, contact a lawyer who can review the agreement with you and help you evaluate an appropriate course of action. An example of a non-compete obligation could be an undertaking which is one of only two or three such undertakings in a market offering a particular product or service. The company can ask sales representatives to sign a non-compete clause because they don`t want these sellers to go to a direct competitor and try to take their customer list with them. On the other hand, the employer can sue you and go to court to get a so-called “injunction” or injunction to prevent you from violating your agreement. Since a breach of a non-compete obligation can cause direct harm to an employer, the court will often apply expedited procedures in these cases. Once your employer has applied for an injunction or injunction, it may only be a matter of days or weeks before you schedule a hearing before a judge. You may have very little time to hire a lawyer and discuss your case with that person, so be sure to seek the help of an experienced labor lawyer once you know your employer is questioning your actions. What do the courts consider “appropriate”? Although there are differences between States, it is generally stated that non-compete obligations must not be contrary to public policy.
They must not persist for an excessively long period of time, cover an overly large geographical area or prevent a former employee from working in many types of companies. For example, it is unlikely that a non-compete clause prohibiting a physician from practicing medicine anywhere in the United States indefinitely will be considered appropriate in most jurisdictions. Similarly, a non-compete clause that prohibits a software engineer from working for a 20-year job in a software or hardware company in the state is unlikely to be considered appropriate in most jurisdictions. whether the employer has provided special training or training as a benefit of employment, non-compete obligations are generally enforceable only if they are defined very narrowly. To be enforceable, limitations on the non-compete obligation must (a) be necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the employer; (b) be appropriate in terms of time and geography; (c) must not be contrary to the public interest; and (d) be supported by a review; That is, the employee must receive something in exchange for signing the agreement. The burden of proof lies with the employer to prove that the non-compete obligation has met these requirements and courts will generally not enter into overly broad restrictive agreements; They will simply consider them unenforceable. CNC = Non-competition clause CNC = Obligation not to compete In most countries, the answer is yes. Most States offer a mechanism to test the applicability of a treaty. This mechanism is called a declaratory judgment. Depending on the availability of this remedy in your state and the tactics involved in each individual situation, it may make sense for the employee to file a declaratory action requiring the court to determine whether the agreement is enforceable. There are many practical and tactical considerations for deciding whether or not you, as an employee, should bring a declaratory action to challenge a pact, not to compete. There is no single answer to this problem.
To better understand the extent of non-compete obligations, we used data from a national survey of U.S. private companies with 50 or more employees. The survey was conducted in a random sample and conducted from March 2017 to July 2017. It had a sample size of 634, which gave a 95% confidence interval for sales estimates of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. .
