Legal Developments in Employment Agreements Containing Non-Compete Clauses and Alternate Protections

Abstract

As an employment law attorney, I represented employees who were both threatened and sued for alleged violations of non-compete clauses in employment agreements. As a business owner for the past 25 years, I have always required employees sign non-compete agreements. Such agreements are intended to protect the employers’ economic interests without unduly restricting the employee’s ability to find alternative employment. Historically, the enforceability of such clauses depended on the reasonableness of the duration and geographic scope of the restrictions. The law regarding non-compete clauses has largely been created out of case law on a state-by-state basis. This geographic restriction has become hard to define in a world with so many digital companies generating revenue everywhere in the world. In the last few years, however, there have been several developments at the federal and state level looking to further define and curb the restrictions found in non-compete clauses.