If you can prove that your current or former employer acted illegally or dishonestly towards their clients or asked you to do so, you can easily challenge a non-compete obligation because the employer does not want them to know that they are doing illegal business acts. Just be tactful instead of threatening when you talk about it. Employees negotiating a non-compete obligation with their employer should only accept those conditions that are actually necessary to protect the employer`s interests. I have spent much of my 27-year legal career drafting and analyzing non-compete rules in Texas. Since 2007, I`ve written hundreds of articles about the Texas non-compete clause on my blog TexasNonCompeteLaw.com. If you have any questions about a non-compete agreement in Texas, please feel free to contact me. I am pleased to review your agreement and develop a strategy to pursue the result you want. This discussion was intended to help people understand and possibly change the non-compete obligations they may have signed with a former employer. However, as a business owner, you might be interested in asking for such agreements from your own employees or making sure that the agreements you use are hermetic.

If so, information on non-compete obligations can help you in the business owner`s toolbox. An employee may also be able to opt out of a non-compete clause if the restrictions are unreasonable. Above all, a non-compete obligation must be reasonable in all of the following respects to be enforceable: Yes. However, if it is legal for the employer to take adverse measures against you – such as.B. Firing or writing to you if they refuse to sign depends on the circumstances of your case and may depend on whether the agreement the employer wants you to sign is enforceable under your state law. Contract law issues in your state can also be a factor in whether an agreement you are forced or threatened to sign is enforceable. One of them is whether your employer is required to pay you extra money or give you other considerations as discussed in the previous question. Does the agreement prevent you from doing a very different job than you have done so far? In some industries, it is common for employers to require their employees to sign a non-compete agreement. Essentially, a non-compete obligation is a legal agreement that prevents an employee from working for his or her employer`s competitors after leaving the company. While it is true that an employer cannot force you to sign one of these agreements, they may be able to fire you because you have not signed or decided not to hire you if you are a new employee. And an employer that tries to enforce a non-compete clause and fails ends up paying the dominant employee`s legal fees and expenses, and sometimes pays the employee monetary damages for unauthorized interference in an employment relationship if they cost the employee a job.

Next, you need to check whether the restrictions in your non-compete agreement are appropriate in terms of scope and duration. Legally, no, but it may give you an indication that the employer does not see the cost and risk of trying to enforce the agreement as it is worthwhile. It may also be that the employer has decided that the agreement is likely to be unenforceable anyway. Unfortunately, this is not a guarantee that the employer will not try to apply it in your case. Before you intentionally choose to breach any non-compete obligation to which you are subject, contact a lawyer who can discuss the agreement with you and help you evaluate an appropriate course of action. “Sufficient consideration” is a legal term that means that you, as an employee, must benefit from the signing of the agreement. This may include obtaining the job (if you signed the non-compete clause as part of the employment contract) or maintaining the job for at least two years (if you only signed it after you have already been employed). The term non-compete obligation, more formally known as the duty not to compete, tends to encompass three aspects of employment: If your employer presents you with a non-compete clause and you decide to sign the contract, you promise not to run against your employer after your employment ends. Non-compete obligations not only prevent you from signing an employment contract with a competitor of your former employer, but also non-compete obligations: it depends.

Courts often take into account these factors: geographical scope, duration, type of limited tasks and consideration – in relation to each other. For example, a broad geographic scope – say, an entire state – may be more enforceable if the duration of the restriction is short – say, a month. On the other hand, a broad geographical scope combined with a long period of prohibition is more likely to be deemed unenforceable by a court. When considering territorial scope, courts consider the services provided by the employer. The court will generally not allow a non-compete obligation that prevents an employee from working in an area where the employer is not doing business. Non-compete or non-compete obligations are becoming more and more common in the world of work. Employees are encouraged to sign them, regardless of the position they hold, their level of authority or knowledge, or any other specific reason. Smart employees consult a lawyer before signing a non-competition clause to be informed of their rights.

Even if you signed without seeking advice, you can still have legal arguments to overcome your non-compete obligation. That depends. There may be claims you can make against the new employer because they didn`t tell you in advance that this was a requirement. These claims vary from state to state and may depend on the enforceability of the non-compete obligation. Save the email response as it could be used as evidence if you ever had to challenge your non-compete obligation on the basis of these promises. 14. If the non-compete obligation I have signed is enforced, it means that I cannot earn a living at all. What must I do? When you started working for your employer and he asked you to sign a non-compete agreement, you did it eagerly: you wanted the job and thought that a 🙂 You probably didn`t want to leave, and b 🙂 They had heard that the non-compete obligations were largely unenforceable. Now time has passed and you are desperate to move on to bigger and better things, but in the years that followed, you saw management chase employees who are leaving with all their might. Are you stuck forever? Do you need to find a new career? 10. I was asked to sign a non-competition clause after having previously worked for the employer. Is it legal? On the other hand, the employer can sue you and go to court to ask for a so-called “injunction” or injunction to prevent you from violating your agreement.

Since a breach of a non-compete obligation can cause direct harm to an employer, the court will often apply expedited procedures in these cases. Once your employer has applied for an injunction or injunction, it may only be a matter of days or weeks before you schedule a hearing before a judge. You may have very little time to hire a lawyer and discuss your case with that person, so be sure to seek the help of an experienced labor lawyer once you know your employer is challenging your actions. An employer who seeks a non-compete obligation may, in some cases, pay “consideration”: additional remuneration in exchange for the employee or vendor`s acceptance of that provision, or another non-monetary benefit, such as .B a change in professional duties or responsibilities. However, if necessary may depend on the law of your state. In general, your employer doesn`t have to give you additional financial compensation, but if you don`t, there can be consequences if the employer tries to enforce the agreement. Some States require the payment of consideration, while others consider this to be simply an important factor that courts must take into account when deciding on the execution of the agreement. You can also try to prove that the terms of the contract are too broad. For example, if the non-compete obligation lasts an unreasonable amount of time or prevents you from working in an overly large geographic area, the contract may not be enforceable. .