Non-Competitive Clause In Employment Law

754 Words4 Pages

The non-compete agreement is one of the more conversional topics in employment law today. A non-compete clause can be defined as a contract in which one party agrees to not enter into a similar profession in competition against another party. According to FindLaw, there are three legal requirements for non-compete agreement, which are, “be supported by consideration at the time it is signed, protect a legitimate business interest of the employer, and be reasonable in scope, geography, and time.” According to the article, “Jimmy John’s Low-Wage Workers Sign ‘Oppressive’ Noncompete Agreement”, written by Dave Jamieson, “the effectiveness of noncompetition agreements varies form state to state. If the worker fights the clause in court, the company generally needs to demonstrate that it’s legitimately trying to protect itself, and that the clause is reasonable and wouldn’t put an undue burden on a worker.” …show more content…

The article written by Dave Jamieson states that the exact wording from the agreement is “Employee covenants and agrees that, during his or her employment with the Employer and for a period of two (2) years after… he or she will not have any direct or indirect interest in or perform services for… any business which derives more than ten percent (10%) of its revenue from selling submarine, hero-type, deli-style, pita and/or wrapped or rolled sandwiches and which is located with three (3) miles of either (the Jimmy John’s location in question) or any such other Jimmy John’s Sandwich Shop.” This agreement, in my opinion, overprotects and violates employment at will. Most states have a policy that employers can adopt that is called employment at will. In this, an employer can fire an employee for any reason (as long as it is not illegal under state and federal law), and employees can leave a company at any time with no just