One area where there are usually non-competes within the same market are on-air television reporters. They leave one station and then cannot go on the air in the same market for a number of months. What I’ve seen is that many go to work for the new station but don’t go on the air until the time expires on the old contract. They can go to another market, but not across the street to the competitor.
^^
OP would get better answers if he let us know what industry he is asking about.
The original context was a discussion on Silicon Valley, and how the non-enforceability of employee non-compete agreements in California allowed people to move to different employers and create their own startup companies more easily than in other states. So the computing industry was the main topic at the time, but non-compete issues could apply to employees in any kind of job or industry in states where they are allowed.
I asked DH. He said…he has been asked to sign non-compete clauses…and has said if that is a term of employment…no thank you to the job. No company has forced him to sign…and all continued to offer the jobs.
Still…he says it’s not good practice to poach clients…because that isn’t going to help you get your next job. His is a small type of work…and word would,get around easily.
I know a person who poached the entire team from a former employer… The employer said it would sue… tough luck suing when there is no money. LOL
Non-solicitation agreements (NSAs) and non-compete agreements (NCAs) are different (or can be different segments of a combined agreement). I have seen employers be more successful suing former employees with NSAs for recruiting talent away from the former employer than I have holding them out from the workplace entirely.
If you do have a NSA & want to bring people with you, just do it over a decent time span. That’s pretty impossible to enforce.
@ChowdyCat … The organization didn’t want him using his skills/expertise
in this market as his knowledge included future strategy. When he and organization severed ties they paid him not to work for 18 months so he wouldn’t share market strategy that he was aware of in that business. H circumvented the noncompete by jumping to another industry that utilized his skills/knowledge in a different way. This did not violate his noncompete thus allowing him to collect salaries from old and new jobs. Worked for us!
It is pretty common in banking, especially sales and trading, for the whole team to leave together.
MA legislature tries to tackle non-competes again:
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/here-we-go-again-massachusetts-non-48587/
It varied in the sales organizations that I worked for. Some reps stole many of their former clients. Other reps received written warning letters to desist. A few reps had to hire lawyers and go to court.
A VP of Sales and Marketing was sued by my company and there was a nasty trial. The company fell apart after he left while his new company thrived. It didn’t seem fair to me. I read the trial transcript online.
What is the history of previous attempts, and what lobbying from what interests happened?
Work in California, North Dakota, or Oklahoma where employee non compete agreements are unenforceable.
Or be willing to be unemployed for the duration of the non compete agreement after termination of employment.
Older thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1960766-employee-non-compete-agreements.html
Ooopsee. Sorry about that guys. Did not realize there was one already. I really should have searched.
Sorry about the duplicate. Thanks ucb for pointing me to the other thread to read. I appreciate it.
As far as I know, our S didn’t sign any non-compete agreement, but he’s working for the fed govt. I will ask him next time we connect. My H never did either, but he never worked for anyone else anyway.
Why non-compete? So much easier to enforce than pursue a trade secret misappropriation action. Usually, by the time trade secret theft is discovered, the damage is done irreversibly.
I have never heard of a non-compete for a nurse or accountant, and only for an engineer who was relatively senior and had contributed to some high value IP.
I think you are looking at a non-existent problem, certainly for young employees.
It is a REAL problem - not non-existing - just ask the massage practitioner who lost her job and is on the verge of BK.
http://www.seattletimes.com/nwshowcase/careers/shackled-to-an-old-job-by-a-noncompete-clause/
All depends on how willing the former employer will be to go after you.
I’ve been in accounting for about 15 years both in Georgia and NYC. I have never signed a non-compete agreement. Now confidentiality agreements I’ve signed tons of those. I would think it would be the same for nursing.
In my part of the world, non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreements for low-level employees are common, but noncompetes per se are limited to upper-level people, not new hires. I have seen a couple of exceptions to that, but they are companies whose new hires tend to be highly skilled (e.g., PhDs or MBAs), and which actually invest quite a bit of time and money in training new people in proprietary technology. And pay huge salaries, so they can say with a straight face that they have paid for the noncompete. They have been pretty successful in court defending them, and generally take a scorched-earth approach when anyone tries to challenge them just to make certain not too many people try, and competitors know to stay away from their employees unless they have been gone from the company for several years.