Non compete clause Puns

Originally posted this in r/legaladvice, and was told to post here. Title says it all. I was given 60 days notice of my termination today, which will be January 21, 2022. I can’t just pick up and leave due to the fact I’m on an isolated island, but I got to make ends meet. The non-compete clause is for a 75 mile radius from the location of the clinic for 2 years. There are only 3 other competitors within that radius, all of which are on this island including the local hospital which is currently hiring. Prior to this notification I had reached out to the hospital and they would take me in a heartbeat since this is such an underserved community from a medical stand point. That’s really my only option. Should I seek legal advice regarding my potential breach of this non-compete or just assume it won’t have any effect? I honestly don’t think it would realistically hold up given my circumstances and location. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help me out.

EDIT: Truly want to thank everyone that saw this and showed support for a fellow comrade. You all have shared a lot of valuable information with me and I can honestly say I have 100% confidence now in my next step in this matter. Above anything else, I’m glad I was able to highlight this egregious anti-worker business practice of non-compete clauses, especially in the medical field. These shouldn’t exist for medical practitioners. But hey, I live in America.

So I know this isn't nearly as bad as many of the complaints here, but subscribing to this sub and reading many of the posts have inspired my actions and current feelings so I had to share. Background: I'm a computer software developer with a spouse and six year old and currently work remotely 4-5 days of the week and work for a small IT consulting firm (about 40 employees give or take). I don't work much directly with clients (this is a job for our managers and business analysts), the programs and work we do is very client specific, and we don't use anything fancy or bleeding edge for tools and training (basically stuff tens of millions of developers world wide use in software development). The company hasn't been perfect at all but on balance I've always found them pretty good, especially reading the nightmares other developers talk about online not to mention the bottomless hells people on this sub talk about. In May of 2020, right after the pandemic settled in, they actually offered us most of our Christmas bonus to help support us (which was a huge benefit for my family) and still gave us more money at Christmas (although smaller than usual which was reasonable) plus a COLA. While they've made some questionable decisions in my time here, it usually affected other people and I like the owner pretty well and was okay with his COO (who runs the day-to-day operations).

Then in the past year our hardware lost several people to another consulting firm in the area right after they had taken several new clients. The team got slammed, and by October they had gone from a team of about 8 people before the pandemic down to just 3 of the original crew. Then a software manager of another team left (to a non-competitor mind you) as well and apprently this was enough for management .

This past Monday during our company meeting the COO announced they would be 'revising' the employment agreement we would all be signing a non-compete clause preventing us from working with 'competing' consulting companies for eighteen months after we leave the company. To make matters worse they didn't release the actual language until yesterday afternoon and are only giving us until Monday to sign the thing (and puruse the language ourselves). Now if you don't know about these non-competes, they were originally used in very narrow cases involving highly specialized fields but have since morphed into tools to use by 'free enterprise' loving business owners, to crush the free enterprise

I've seen a number of common opinions spreading that these are silly and non-enforceable, etc.

Do not ever sign a contract expecting a part of it to be ignored by a counter party that stands to benefit from said enforcement. If you ever sign anything, you have to fully expect you will be held to that agreement in all parts.

Non-competes can be thrown out in court (after you pay for a lawyer) if they are found to be too onerous and the Biden administration recommends looking at ways to decrease non-compete enforceability across multiple fields; but at this point if you sign a non-compete that states you owe your organization $30k if you work at any hospitals within 20 miles; fully expect to pay it unless you have a lawyer on retainer that tells you otherwise.

They are likely largely a scare tactic in general, but its a scare tactic with teeth that can be enforced and then you will have to fight to get a judge to agree to your side of the situation.

While it's fun to think we're smarter than lawyers, we're absolutely not. You will invariably never beat a professional in their own field. Don't fall for the antivax logic of 'I read it online that these are not enforceable'. They know why those clauses are written into contracts and why they continue to include them.

Ex.1: Noncompete with a hospital system that owns multiple sites in a tricity area forcing you find a hospital more than 30 miles from any of their sites which isn't available in the state you live in forcing you to move states to find another physician job? Probably overly burdensome and will be thrown out in court.

Ex.2: Noncompete stating you can't go across the street to the competitor when there are 20 other hospitals driving distance from your hospital? Judge probably won't throw that out.

https://twitter.com/cj_teague/status/1468692187097354243

When a person employed by a company leaves or quits or is fired they cant simply steal the clients or work in the same field for an appropriate time.. so how is Sylvie able to purge the staff and start her own firm?

I understand a lot of the outrage about how WWE conducts it’s business. What I don’t understand is the hyper-fixation on the non-compete clause as a negative.

When a main roster talent is fired they receive three months extra pay with no obligation to work. Considering the amount that WWE pays many of its wrestlers, that means some of them are receiving more in that 90 days for doing nothing than many people on this sub (and the other one) will make in a year. They are also clearly able (albeit on an unofficial basis) to set up gigs for when the clause expires, which means they can go directly from one paying gig to another.

I guess I just don’t understand the outrage over a bunch of already-rich people receiving 90 days paid vacation from a company that made them famous on television. Losing your job is shit but surely this is like, the best possible version of it? If you choose to make a career off a niche athletic hobby, isn’t the version of it that gets you on tv and makes you an executive-level salary the best possible one, even if you do get fired at the end of it? Can you imagine what you’d do with 90 salaried vacation days? I’d honesty kill for a deal that sweet.

I don’t know, a lot of this outrage just feels like simping over celebrities who are richer than you’ll ever be and enjoy a greater standard of living than you’ll ever have. Excuse me for not being furious because their amazing lives didn’t go absolutely 100% perfectly.

I understand the logic behind non compete's, but the employer I'm about to sign a contract with, has a 1 year non compete clause after termination of employment. Now, as I'm going straight to this company right out of college, I will obviously develop all my skills in this related field. If at any point of time they decide to end my employment, I will not have access to the market that I have the most skills for. This seems like absolutely screwing the employee over.

Location - Netherlands. In the non compete they have declared that "cannot go to any companies in similar markets either in NL or worldwide". Can they enforce the worldwide part?

This is a clause in my revised offer letter. Is a non-compete written so vaguely common in offer letters? Or am I just being paranoid? My concern is, a vendor can be literally anyone.

The Employee covenants with the Company that [he/she] shall not, for a period of 2 (two) years after the termination of [his/her] employment in accordance with Clause 9 (Termination), without the prior written consent of the Company, either alone or jointly with or on behalf of any person, directly or indirectly, canvass, solicit or approach or cause to be canvassed or solicited or approached, any person who at any time during the period of 2 (two) years prior to the date of termination, is an employee, customer, client, or vendor of the Company or with whom the Employee has had dealings during the course of [his/her] employment.

Thanks for the help!

My parents have a carer who is employed through an agency. The company is in financial trouble. My parents' carer had an inkling that things were going South and handed in her resignation. The next day all the staff received news that the company was going in to administration and they would all be let go. She received a letter telling her that as a result of her resignation she was not allowed to approach existing customers for business for x months (not sure how long). My parents love their carer and would really like to employ her in a private capacity. If the company were still up and running, I understand that this would be enforceable. But as it is being dissolved, is this clause in her contract still valid?

I'm reviewing a sample of what a typical work contract here in Belgium entails, but it is in Dutch and I'd like to make sure I fully understand what it says.

Does the non-compete clause only take effect if the contract was terminated by the employer for a serious cause or terminated by the employee prematurely? What if the employee left when the company when contract normally ends, can it still take effect then?

I’ve been with my company for almost 1yr. The hired a new HR person to expand the department (aka make a real HR department). Today we got an email asking us to sign a non-compete clause. My issue with this is, while I don’t plan on leaving the company anytime soon, the are in over 50 facilities in my local area. This is the wording of the clause:

“Employer is currently offering to Employee, Employee covenants and agrees that in the event Employee shall leave the employ of Employer, for any reason of any kind whatsoever, Employee agrees, for a period of two (2) year not to: (a)​Engage in the practice of medicine, either directly or indirectly, individually or jointly with others, as officer, director, partner, shareholder, employee, or otherwise, within any nursing or personal care facility Employer services at the time of Employee termination”

Does this mean I can’t work for the facility directly or I can’t say go work for another company like Optum and be places on one of the facilities my current company goes to?

ETA: thanks for the responses. I’ve been chatting with the other NPs at my office and most of them are okay with signing it and think it’s fair.

2nd ETA: I should have also said they wrote something about a holiday bonus compensation for signing. Turns out the don’t actually ever offer a holiday bonus.

From this weeks wrestling observer

Will AEW attempt to sign them, will Impact, NJPW, NWA, Progress, AAA, MLW, CZW, or any of the other wrestling companies that I haven't listed.

My girlfriend who lives in Ontario has just recently been given a job offer with a company that is based in BC. She would be working fully remotely from home.

Within her contract she there is a non compete agreement stating she could not work for a competitor within 1 year of leaving this company.

My question is whether she is able to dispute this part of her contract and have it removed after the introduction of bill 27 which prohibits employers from entering into employment contracts or other agreements with an employee that are, or that include, a non-compete agreement.

The bill states - >67.2 (1) No employer shall enter into an employment contract or other agreement with an employee that is, or that includes, a non-compete agreement.

Does the fact that she lives in Ontario and the company is in BC have any relevance on her situation? Is a contract legislation based on the employees residence?

Bill - https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-2/bill-27

Additional : She is currently in contract negotiations and has requested this noncompete be removed without mentioning the new bill and they refused.

So in my contract, there's the following text: "during a 12 month period, you are not allowed to be employed at any position in any business related to securities trading (i.e hedge funds, such as Citadel, Vanguard, etc) at any location worldwide.".

The company is in one of Asia's financial hubs. Is that part enforceable? If I move to the US (or case 2: the UK; case 3: Canada), is there any local laws in those countries that override this non-compete clause?

I'm moving from a huge commercial market to a very small rural area and had an interview with a company that asked me to sign an NDA and non compete clause. Is this common? How enforceable is this?

The owner claimed if I left the company or got fired I'd not be able to work in town or the two closest towns.

I'm not taking the job, it has no PTO for a year and no health insurance and I just accepted an offer with a larger unit in the area I'm happy with but just curious. Is this owner delusional? How does he have any employees at all?

He claims all techs who sign a non compete get equity in the company but mentioned they have had "spring layoffs" before.

Company's definition for competitor:

Competitor, for the purposes of this non-compete clause, includes the End-Client or Prime Vendor and is defined as any persons or facilities with whom Employee dealt as an employee or contractor for the Employer/ End-Client or whom he/she met through the Employer and/or End-Client

Looking for some advice on the non-compete clause in my current employment. I'm looking in to overemployment and curious if this will catch me out. It seems as harsh as much as its vague.

I'm in the UK as well if that helps.

https://preview.redd.it/73mwmgmrqi181.jpg?width=1127&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=704af25a2717b300530cfa1a9be4f8b1d83273de

I recently received an offer for a specialist position with my background. The industry that I’m in is considered as oligopolistic in nature: multiple players dominating the industry hence highly regulated and very corporate.

The position is comparable to pharmacist, automotive engineer, to name a few. Position requires extensive knowledge of the industry know-how.

Because of above, if you stay too long in this position, you will see your options to move between sectors become almost impossible. So its pretty common to see my industry colleagues replacing each other or jumping around WITHIN the industry, BETWEEN the competing companies, especially when our skills & expertise are rare. Never been an issue as long as we don’t divulge/use ex-company info (PDP applies).

For the first time, I recently received an offer letter with a non-compete clause, binding me to a 6 months obligation not to work with their competitor from the date of my employment cessation. Now;

1. While I understand this is for the benefit of the company, I feel uncomfortable that it applies to my niche position. If I want to change my environment, I have nowhere to move besides within the industry. Yes we do handle strategic info but I’m not even in management level to be a huge liability to the company.

2. To understand the applicability of the clause, I can ask them for their list of competitors but how can I be sure the list doesn’t evolve from the start of my employment til the end date of my employment?

Looking forward to your insights!

Isn’t this a load of bullshit?! I’m seeing a top surgeon. Two others with great reviews/experience are in the same building. Well i was i formed i am only allowed to see one due to non compete. I cant even interview all, just one. So friggen stupid. So if one is an asshole, im stuck with him or someone completely out of this hospital .

So,

I came across a non compete clause in the selling terms in empire flippers. It says:

“Seller will not directly or indirectly: engage in or in any manner become interested in, directly or indirectly, as an owner, partner, joint venturer, investor, shareholder, member, or otherwise, in any business, trade, or operation that competes with the Business for a period of three (3) years of the Sale Date”

Let’s say that I focus on selling Nintendo games.

Does that mean that I won’t be able to make another website for gamers (ie console reviews, gaming pc reviews, gaming mouse reviews etc) only because it’s on the gaming niche?

Or does it mean that I can’t do Nintendo game reviews in my other website?

Thanks

Hey guys,

I'm currently studying on a programming course in England, and am about to embark on a commercial project for an outside company. Before doing so, I have been asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which contains a non compete clause, as follows:

"In order to protect the legitimate business interests of party one (employer) and each group company, party 2 (me) covenants with party one for itself and as agent for each group company that it shall not (and shall procure that no member of party two's group shall):

carry on; or

be engaged, concerned or interest in; or

assist in any way

any business concern that is (or intends to be) in competition with the business of party one.

Party two shall be bound by the covenenant set out in this clause during the term of this agreement, and a period of twelve months after termination or expiry of this agreement."

I am concerned that this will prevent me getting a job in tech after I graduate (in a couple of months' time). Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hey All,

Wondering if anyone has any insight or similar experience on a situation I went through a few months back.

I had been unhappy at my current employer for a while and had been looking to leave the business - just so happened an opportunity came along in the from of a new position from a company we were currently doing contract work for.(I was not involved with said company and had not interacted or undertaken any contract work for them.)

Anyway, I ended up going through the recruitment process and getting a job offer. Unfortunately I opted to turn this down due to a 12 month non-compete clause in my contract which my directors were unwilling to release me from.

Just wondering out of interest how enforceable this actually is from an employer/contract standpoint.

As a few people have told me I should have just resigned and taken the new offer regardless of the contract clause.

Title says it all. I was given 60 days notice of my termination today which will be January 21, 2022. I can’t just pick up and leave due to the fact I’m on an isolated island, but I got to make ends meet. The non-compete clause is for a 75 mile radius from the location of the clinic. There are only 3 other competitors within that radius, all of which are on this island including the local hospital which is currently hiring. Prior to this notification I had reached out to the hospital and they would take me in a heartbeat since this is such an underserved community from a medical stand point. Should I seek legal advice regarding my potential breach of this non-compete or just pretend it won’t have any effect, because I honestly don’t think it would realistically hold up given my circumstances and location. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help me out.

EDIT: Thanks for all of your input, I truly appreciate it. A lot have asked how long the clause is for. It is 2 years from the last date of my employment.