The Practical Employment Law Podcast: Non-Compete Agreements - Five Mistakes by Three Parties

Non-compete agreements are always a hot topic when employees move around a lot and due to COVID-19, a lot of employers have had reductions in force this year.  As a result, we’ve seen an uptick in questions about non-competes.  In the typical case, an employee leaves one employer for a new employer and the former employer believes that the employee is violating his or her non-compete agreement.  Thus, in any non-compete case, there are three possible parties: 1) the former employer; 2) the employee; and 3) the new employer.

Each of these parties may make mistakes that interfere with their interests in litigation over the non-compete.  In this episode of The Practical Employment Law Podcast, I discuss 5 mistakes that each of the three potential parties commonly makes and how to avoid them.  Here are the mistakes:

Former Employer Mistakes:

  1. One size fits all agreements;
  2. Administrative failures;
  3. Inconsistent enforcement;
  4. Failing to define trade secrets;
  5. Failing to protect trade secrets.

Employee Mistakes:

  1. Taking documents or information from the former employer;
  2. Going to a direct competitor;
  3. Not disclosing a non-compete agreement to the new employer;
  4. Relying on rumors;
  5. Working for the new employer while still employed by the former employer.

New Employer Mistakes:

  1. Not asking about non-competes during the interview;
  2. Poaching the competition’s employees;
  3. Allowing the employee to violate his or her non-compete;
  4. Allowing the employee to upload documents to company servers;
  5. Asking the employee to do work while still employed by the former employer.

The episode is available here.

KMK Law articles and blog posts are intended to bring attention to developments in the law and are not intended as legal advice for any particular client or any particular situation. The laws/regulations and interpretations thereof are evolving and subject to change. Although we will attempt to update articles/blog posts for material changes, the article/post may not reflect changes in laws/regulations or guidance issued after the date the article/post was published. Please consult with counsel of your choice regarding any specific questions you may have.

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