Businesses take precautionary steps to minimize potential harm by former employees through transfer of their proprietary or sensitive information in a competitive business. The normal course of precautionary action to address this issue is a non-compete covenant in the employment agreement specifying the rights and obligations of an employee upon leaving the organization. A non-compete covenant attempts to prohibit an employee from competing with the employer upon his or her departure in the broadest context possible.
Canadian Law governing these covenants have undergone a substantial revision and refinement in recent years. As such, attempts to restrict the ability of past employees to compete with the former employers have become more and more difficult.
In the legal context non-compete agreements can be quite punitive, limiting an employee from earning his living in the skillset he knows best following lay off or dismissal. Many employment agreements have non-compete provisions that are over broad, lengthy, ambiguous and legally unsound. For this reason an agreement has to be carefully drafted to be fair and just in order to be enforceable. The agreement in a court opinion has to be unambiguous, recognize the employee’s right to earn a living and the employer’s right to protect its legitimate propriety interest.
If you or one of your loved ones have signed an employment agreement with a non-compete covenant, left that employment recently and if your former employer is advising you that you are forbidden from working for competitors or other companies in the same industry, it is advisable for you to contact a lawyer immediately to know your rights, obligations and responsibilities.
At SBMB Law – our employment lawyers have extensive experience in dealing with noncompetition agreements. Call us at 905-884-9242 and let us help you deal with your noncompetition agreement.