Non Compete in contract

adamjth

Hi,

I started a job last summer with my present company A and signed a contract that said I /was not allowed to work for companies x,y.z for 6 months after leaving.   I am currently interviewing for a job at company x and wondering what my present employer (company A) could do in the event of a job offer?  Looking at this article it would seem they could cause me some bother but then I already know of two other ex-employees who have joined company x and had signed the same contract without any action being taken against them.   Should I take my contract to a solicitor to check it over?  Or I am overthinking this as I can quite easily leave and not say where I am going to & even if they (company A)  did find out my new employer would them go to the expense of going to court?   In my present role I am not party to any detailed sales/commercial information or knowledge of intellectual property is very tenuous

thanks

Adam

El_Torro

Non compete clauses are certainly legal and enforceable. The devil is in the detail though, under certain circumstances it could be considered unreasonable or unnecessary in a court of law. 

If you have examples of people doing this then hopefully it's nothing to worry about. However won't your new employer want references, at least from your current employer? They'll find out that way. 

Is this a blanket clause that all employees at your company have to sign? If so then for certain positions (possibly yours, since you imply that you won't be taking customers with you or secret knowledge) it might be nothing to worry about. 

I would be inclined to be honest with my current employer. You did sign the contract after all. However there is a risk you will end up unemployed with no job to go to if you do this. 

elsien

Do you not need a reference from your current company, in which case they are guaranteed to find out where you are going?

DullGreyGuy

elsien said:

Do you not need a reference from your current company, in which case they are guaranteed to find out where you are going?

Not necessarily, sometimes the recruitment agency does the pre-employment screening so the prior employer has no idea who the next employer is.

Non-compete clauses are often in all employee's contracts however the reality is the number of employees they are concerned about are much smaller. The downside of this is that unless you get their explicit permission you are sitting under the sword of damocles wondering if they will decide to take exception to your employment (they'd have 6 years to claim) 

Grumpy_chap

It is quite unusual that the non-compete clause at Company A specifically lists companies x,y,z as the places where the OP is not to work.  Non-compete clauses are commonly rather generic and try to capture any company where A things it is competition.

There is also, often, a link to like work in the new companies.  It is also quite possible for the employee to have non-compete clauses assessed as too restrictive and therefore not enforceable.

What exactly does the non-compete clause say?

Marcon

adamjth said:

Hi,

I started a job last summer with my present company A and signed a contract that said I /was not allowed to work for companies x,y.z for 6 months after leaving.   I am currently interviewing for a job at company x and wondering what my present employer (company A) could do in the event of a job offer?  Looking at this article it would seem they could cause me some bother but then I already know of two other ex-employees who have joined company x and had signed the same contract without any action being taken against them.   Should I take my contract to a solicitor to check it over?  Or I am overthinking this as I can quite easily leave and not say where I am going to & even if they (company A)  did find out my new employer would them go to the expense of going to court?   In my present role I am not party to any detailed sales/commercial information or knowledge of intellectual property is very tenuous

thanks

Adam

Company A could, of course, take action against company x if they employ you and thus encourage you to breach your undertaking to your current employer...

Why sign a contract you're not prepared to honour? You'd expect Company A to honour anything they've promised you.

eddddy

elsien said:

Do you not need a reference from your current company, in which case they are guaranteed to find out where you are going?

If there is a non-compete clause, it suggests that Company A and Company X are fairly fierce competitors.

In my experience, fierce competitors won't 'help each other out' - for example, by providing employee references to each other.

So, in my experience, Company A wouldn't even ask Company X for a reference, or if they did, Company X would ignore the request. Company X would have to make their own judgement about whether to recruit somebody. 

(Unless Company X is contractually required to provide a reference - in which case, I doubt they'd provide a particularly useful one.)


 

adamjth

Marcon said:

adamjth said:

Hi,

I started a job last summer with my present company A and signed a contract that said I /was not allowed to work for companies x,y.z for 6 months after leaving.   I am currently interviewing for a job at company x and wondering what my present employer (company A) could do in the event of a job offer?  Looking at this article it would seem they could cause me some bother but then I already know of two other ex-employees who have joined company x and had signed the same contract without any action being taken against them.   Should I take my contract to a solicitor to check it over?  Or I am overthinking this as I can quite easily leave and not say where I am going to & even if they (company A)  did find out my new employer would them go to the expense of going to court?   In my present role I am not party to any detailed sales/commercial information or knowledge of intellectual property is very tenuous

thanks

Adam

Company A could, of course, take action against company x if they employ you and thus encourage you to breach your undertaking to your current employer...

Why sign a contract you're not prepared to honour? You'd expect Company A to honour anything they've promised you.

Thanks for your comment.  As you can imagine circumstances change and actually A has spent the best part of a year to sort out the pension scheme they promised as part of the same contract.  Its a two way thing

adamjth

Marcon said:

adamjth said:

Hi,

I started a job last summer with my present company A and signed a contract that said I /was not allowed to work for companies x,y.z for 6 months after leaving.   I am currently interviewing for a job at company x and wondering what my present employer (company A) could do in the event of a job offer?  Looking at this article it would seem they could cause me some bother but then I already know of two other ex-employees who have joined company x and had signed the same contract without any action being taken against them.   Should I take my contract to a solicitor to check it over?  Or I am overthinking this as I can quite easily leave and not say where I am going to & even if they (company A)  did find out my new employer would them go to the expense of going to court?   In my present role I am not party to any detailed sales/commercial information or knowledge of intellectual property is very tenuous

thanks

Adam

Company A could, of course, take action against company x if they employ you and thus encourage you to breach your undertaking to your current employer...

Why sign a contract you're not prepared to honour? You'd expect Company A to honour anything they've promised you.

Thanks for your comment.  As you can imagine circumstances change and actually A has spent the best part of a year to sort out the pension scheme they promised as part of the same contract.  Its a two way thing

mark_cycling00

Company A will feel a big obligation to take action, mostly to avoid giving the impression to all its staff that they will be able to do the same thing. It would also tell company X that they could poach staff with no consequences.

I'd also consider scenarios which you may feel are very unlikely but may happen.

Emigration related: if company a holds a grudge and won't confirm your details then you could be stuffed.

You or family member applies for work related to law and order or defence. Same thing happens.

adamjth

Grumpy_chap said:

It is quite unusual that the non-compete clause at Company A specifically lists companies x,y,z as the places where the OP is not to work.  Non-compete clauses are commonly rather generic and try to capture any company where A things it is competition.

There is also, often, a link to like work in the new companies.  It is also quite possible for the employee to have non-compete clauses assessed as too restrictive and therefore not enforceable.

What exactly does the non-compete clause say?

During the course of employment and for a period of 6 months thereafter, you shall not become engaged,  directly or indirectly as an employee, consultant, partner, principal, agent, proprietor, shareholder or advisor, in a Competing Business. A "Competing Business" shall mean the companies designated by the  Company on Appendix B to this Agreement. The Company may revise Appendix B at any time, and from  time to time, by adding names to, or subtracting names from, such list.

Appendix B lists 10 companies including X