QUESTION
Could legal action be taken against me if I violate a restrictive covenant? R
Asked on Mar 19th, 2014 on Breach of Contract - Pennsylvania
More details to this question:
A competitor has offered me full time the job of my dreams. I live in a small town. The problem is that I have a current position in which the restrictive covenant covers the entire town but it is only for barely one day a week and I want to work full time. My current boss knows this but says that even though she doesn't have enough work for me, I still cannot work for the competitor. Can she legally prevent me from supporting myself in my own town?
1 ANSWER
Your former employer can sue you, but that doesn't mean that he/she/it will win. Many restrictive covenants are not enforceable, depending on such factors as the type of industry involved, the type of services the employee provides, how wide an area the covenant covers, how long a time period is affected, whether the covenant prohibits all competition or has a lesser restriction (i.e. can't solicit former employer's customers, can't work with customers you've worked with in the past year on behalf of the former employer, etc.); whether the employer received separate consideration (beyond just getting or keeping their job) for agreeing to the covenant, whether the employer invested time and money training the employee, whether the employee left voluntarily or was fired, whether the employee had access to any trade secrets of the former employer, etc.
Answered on Mar 20th, 2014 at 3:42 PM