Non-Competition

A first-of-its-kind nationwide ban on non-competition agreements is coming. Possibly.

October 23, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

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 with another bipartisan bill — this time, legislation taking on non-competition agreements. Continue reading

Seven signs the non-solicitation and non-competition agreements your employees signed may be unenforceable.

May 1, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

User:VasilievVV and user:Jarekt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

One 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 blog posts. Continue reading

Does your company use no-hire agreements? Better call a lawyer. Maybe a criminal lawyer.

March 1, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

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 to hire the others’ employees during their business relationship and for some time after it ends?

That must be legal too, right?

Probably not. Continue reading

If you have non-competition agreements with non-exempt employees, now would be a good time to grab some pearls for clutching

January 30, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Evan-Amos [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Senator 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? Continue reading

A new Senate bill would make your non-compete agreements worth less than the paper on which they’re printed.

April 30, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By US Army [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Late 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. Continue reading

Can a LinkedIn invitation to connect violate an agreement not to solicit?

July 7, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

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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? Continue reading

A lesson on non-competes: What you don’t know, can’t hurt you. Until it does.

February 13, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

Ready, fire, aim.

That’s the approach that many employers take when seeking to enforce a covenant not to compete with a former employee.

Non-competition agreements are the Butter Brickle of employment law.

April 26, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

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 a while, I must page homage.

***spoons Butter Brickle into gaping mouth***

It’s pretty good, you know.

And non-competes….let’s discuss them too. Specifically, what happens if a former employee joins a top competitor, and, by the time a judge is ready to do something about it, the non-competition agreement is about to expire? Will the court level the playing field and restart the non-compete?

Hocus Pocus: PA Supremes eliminate magic language for creating non-compete loopholes

November 20, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made a lot of — some would say, creative — lawyers unhappy.

Everything you need to know about restrictive covenants and protecting confidential business information

October 1, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

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 and former General Counsel to Travelocity.com. And without any prodding from me, Sterling admitted to reading this blog. Clearly, he’s good people.

Anyway, about that webinar. The three of us riffed for an hour and twenty on the ins and outs of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. Plus, we offered some drafting tips and discussed ways to protect confidential information. And, of course, I couldn’t resist intersecting those topics with social media. Secret sauce, anyone? At the end, we took 15 minutes of questions from folks like you.

If you’d like to get a copy of the webinar, I’m pretty sure that I can hook you up. (Don’t let me down, Lexis!) Drop me a line and I’ll do my best to take care of you.