Many of your competitors may require employees to sign noncompete agreements. How can you hire the best workers out there without interfering with one of those contracts?

In one recent case. a software development firm offered a job to a man currently employed by another software company.

However, the employee had signed a noncompete agreement in which he agreed not to work for a “conflicting organization” or any company engaged in a “substantially similar” business within a year after the end of his employment.

Therefore, the competitor filed an injunction to keep the company from hiring him.

But a court threw the case out. The judge ruled the noncompete was too broad to enforce. Phrases like “any conflicting organization” and “substantially similar business” were too vague to identify which companies the employee was prohibited from working for.

Cite: Technology Partner, Inc. v. Hart

Tags: competitor, covenant, noncompete