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Don Plumley Don Plumley is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Geyserville, CA
Posts: 6,921
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Ohio non-compete information

While as pointed out, non-compete's are fundamentally non-enforceable for most jobs, for reasonable circumstances they can be. However, they usually require some sort of consideration "in-kind" as part of a separation payment.

Unless the company truly has unique/proprietary technology/process/information and/or a lock in a particular market/geography, tossing a non-compete into a non-contractual employment offer is a junior move. Or without the advise of competent HR counsel.

Reasonable is the key word - you can't prevent people from working. But you can enjoin them from using unique advantages that would have only been gained from the exposure to the job. So they could prevent you from selling a competitive product in Ohio, but not in Nevada.

They are also put in to attempt to limit competitive employer attraction - from someone that feels they could be enjoined from working to just not wanting to deal with it. When I look at an employee with a non-compete, it takes about five minutes to figure out if it is a real threat or not. Mostly not.

It is reasonable to restrict use of information however. Client names, pricing, costs, etc. That is a much easier standard to reinforce and is very effective at mitigating potential damage.
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Last edited by Don Plumley; 05-02-2013 at 05:34 PM..
Old 05-02-2013, 05:32 PM
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