Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay In 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act into law. A bipartisan approach to creating a nationwide enforcement mechanism, the DTSA prohibits misappropriation of trade secrets in all 50 states. Fast forward to 2019, and the federal government is back at it again…
User:VasilievVV and user:Jarekt [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsOne of the benefits of being a client of this handsome employment lawyer/blogger is a weekly email with links to recent HR news and notes, as well as a bonus HR-compliance tip. The rest of you deadbeats are stuck with only five free weekly…
Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/vectors/resume-unemployed-job-unemployment-2163673/) In most states, non-competition agreements between an employer and employee are legal, as long as there is some form of consideration (like money) to support them. But, what about a no-hire or no-poach agreement; e.g., a ‘contract’ between two businesses where one (or both) agrees not…
Evan-Amos [Public domain], from Wikimedia CommonsSenator Marco Rubio (FL-R) has introduced legislation that, if it becomes law, would be a flamethrower to many of the non-competition agreements that you have with your employees. Have I piqued your interest? It’s called the Freedom to Compete Act. You can find a copy…
By US Army [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsLate last week, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation to ban employers and employees from entering into non-competition agreements. According to a press release from Senator Warren’s office, the Workforce Mobility Act would accomplish not only…
Your former employee, the one whom you paid an extra boat load of money to sign a non-solicitation agreement, just sent a bunch of LinkedIn invites to connect with some of your current employees. Has he violated his non-solicitation agreement? That was the precise issue in a case decided…
Ready, fire, aim. That’s the approach that many employers take when seeking to enforce a covenant not to compete with a former employee. Ready, fire, aim. When there’s a even a whisper that a former employee has gone to work for a competitor, the former employer often rushes into court,…
Non-competition agreements haven’t gotten much play on this blog. It’s like going into an ice cream shop and ordering Butter Brickle. Meh. Yet, there it is: Butter Brickle, right between classics like Vanilla and Chocolate and those newer flavors, Tahitian Vanilla and Chocolate Dreamsicle. As a mainstay, every once and…
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made a lot of — some would say, creative — lawyers unhappy. In a 4-1 decision, the Court held Wednesday that the language “intending to be legally bound” found in Pennsylvania’s Uniform Written Obligations Act will not save an otherwise unenforceable non-competition agreement. You can…
Yesterday, I had the privilege of presenting a webinar for LexisNexis with my colleague, Larry Holmes, and Sterling Miller. Larry and I have served in the restrictive-covenant trenches together many times. Sterling serves as Senior Counsel at Gober Hilgers. He’s also the former General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer to Sabre Corporation…