Employment contract - can't work for Rival company?

Sambucus_Nigra

GeenyWeeny wrote: »

Thanks for the replies!

I work in the fire and security industry. I don't really know any info that could be used against the company and i'm not the kind of person who would divulge such info if i did have it.

I understand they want to protect themselves.

The clause in the contract is extremely 'wordy' probably on purpose to cause confusion. It mentions 12 months and 24 months and not within a 40 mile radius.

I don't think it's worth risking. They will lose me as an employee anyway as I am looking for another job whether it's in the same industry or not.

What is the actual wording?

dseventy

Did you not challenge it at the time?

D70

agrinnall

You agreed to the contract when you started the job, what makes you think you're not bound by it now? You can't just pick and choose which terms apply, just as your employer can't. As D70 says, the time to resolve this was before starting work. You are now reliant on either the contract terms being unenforceable, or your current employer not wanting to bother taking action against you.

hawk30

To those of you asking why the OP didn't challenge it, it's widely accepted that the employer dictates the terms and employees don't have much say. If you don't accept the terms then you don't have a job.

OP, what exactly does the clause say? It has to be reasonable in both time and location. What is reasonable will depend things like what your job is and the sector you work on. Generally anything over 12 months in unenforceable.

GeenyWeeny

Hang on agrinnall! First of all I haven't even applied for this job, it's just something I am interested in. Secondly I don't expect a signed contract to not apply to me. It simply is something I have never come across in any of my previous employment and was interested to know how they would enforce such a rule?

This clause was never in my original contract when I first started. They issued new contracts about a year ago. I didn't challenge it as at the time you do not expect to be leaving the company.

I will get the contract out tonight and post what it says.

Thanks x

jfh7gwa

GeenyWeeny wrote: »

They issued new contracts about a year ago. I didn't challenge it as at the time you do not expect to be leaving the company.

?!

Everone leaves their employer eventually surely - the days of working for 20 years for the same employer as the norm went out a looooong time ago