QUESTION
Is it a breach of non-compete clause to take a side contract job while working full time?
Asked on Apr 18th, 2018 on Breach of Contract - California
More details to this question:
I work (full-time/salaried) for a large video game company in CA and have a pretty standard non-compete clause in my contract. A small educational software company wants to hire me as a contractor (and sign a contractor agreement) to produce assets for them. Although, they are in the same business genre (software) they really are not competing with each other. I have apprehensions about signing an agreement with the smaller company (and even doing the work without a signed contract) as I wonder how much risk is involved versus the extra income.
1 ANSWER
Without knowing what your non-compete provides, it is impossible to know whether your side job would violate it. HOWEVER California prohibits non-competes except in special circumstancss (such as ehen the person prohibited from competing sold the business he or she would now be competing against). See California Business and Professions Code section 16600 et seq. So, assuming that your agreement is governed by California law, and that there are no special circumstances present under which a non-compete is enforceable in California, even if your side job would violate the non-compete, that provision is unenforceable. Of course, that doesn't mean that your employer will be happy if it finds out. Also, regardless of any non-compete, you can't use your employer's proprietary information (trade secrets) in your other job.
Answered on Apr 18th, 2018 at 12:23 PM