News & Analysis as of August 14, 2025

Former Employee

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Non-Compete Agreements are contracts, typically formed in employment or business purchase contexts, where one party agrees to refrain from engaging in a particular line of work or pursuing business within a certain industry or locale. The purpose of these agreements is to protect employers or business purchasers from competition stemming from former employees or former owners of a business. less -

Fourth Circuit Says Use of Noncompetes Indicates Employment Instead of Contractor Relationship

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 7/25/2025

In recent years, state courts have questioned whether independent contractors can be placed under enforceable post-engagement noncompetition agreements. ...more

Hong Kong High Court Grants Injunction to Enforce Restrictive Covenants

BCLP on 6/13/2025

In two separate decisions in April 2025, the Hong Kong High Court first refused, but then allowed, an IT company’s application for an interlocutory injunction to enforce post-termination restrictive covenants against its...more

Customer Non-Solicitation Restrictions Face Increasing Scrutiny

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 2/14/2025

When considering whether to place employees under post-employment restrictive covenants, employers often consider including customer non-solicitation provisions in addition to or as an alternative to the traditional...more

When Is Client Contact Information Confidential?

Mayer Brown on 12/24/2024

Confidentiality is a key consideration in any commercial endeavour. To retain a competitive edge in the market, a business will often do its utmost to maintain the confidentiality of client information and business...more

HK High Court Refuses to Enforce a 12-month Worldwide Non-compete Covenant

BCLP on 6/6/2024

In Manulife Financial Asia Limited and Kenneth Joseph Rappold & Others [2024] HKCFI 989 (date of decision: 5 April 2024), the Hong Kong High Court refused a company’s application to enforce a 12-month non-compete clause...more

Dutch Employer Paid Dearly for an Offer to Buy Out a Non-Compete Clause

Littler on 1/25/2024

In a recent matter before the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Appellate Court, an employer in the Netherlands attempted to hold a former employee to his non-compete clause. After the employee had terminated his employment contract, the...more

Claim Employer Exaggerated Scope of Noncompete Survives Motion to Dismiss in Illinois Federal Court

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 7/13/2023

In a recent decision, a federal trial court in Illinois allowed an employee’s tortious interference claim to continue against his former employer alleging it had exaggerated the reach of a noncompete agreement that he had...more

Another Reason to Revisit Non-Competes: New Risk of NLRA Charges

Poyner Spruill LLP on 6/7/2023

Following the recent declaration that certain confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements are unlawful, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel released a memo on May 30, 2023 (GC...more

North Carolina Business Court Dismisses Overbroad Non-Compete

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 3/31/2023

When we are asked by a client to review their form employee non-competition agreement, we often see companies using documents found on the internet that were clearly written for use in states other than North Carolina. Last...more

Sixth Circuit Upholds Non-Compete Agreement Based on “Flexible Language” in Preliminary Injunction

Bodman on 2/28/2023

A recent Sixth Circuit decision upholding an employer’s non-compete agreement with a former employee highlights the need for legal counsel to craft preliminary injunction language in such matters which reflects the unique...more

One Bad Apple Won’t Spoil the Rest of the Bunch’s Ability to Fairly Compete in Matthews International Corp. v. Lombardi

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 10/28/2022

The tension between encouraging free and fair competition and protecting competitive advantages derived from hard work and ingenuity is at the very heart of trade secrets law. Among other things, this tension manifests itself...more

Void vs. Voidable: The Distinction That Can Make or Break a Tortious Interference Claim in Light of the Great Resignation

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 5/10/2022

Over the past two years, employee mobility seems to be at an all-time high. In fact, the labor market is so fluid that pundits and experts often refer to it as the “Great Resignation.” Although employee mobility can be a...more

Judge Strikes Fiduciary Duty Claims Asserted by FTI Against Former Employees, But Not Aiding and Abetting Claim Asserted by FTI...

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP on 4/12/2022

FTI sued three of its former employees who went to work for Berkeley Research Group (Berkeley), an FTI competitor. The former employees, FTI alleged, breached their FTI employment contracts and their fiduciary duty of loyalty...more

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Provides A 7-Step Roadmap to Employers While Striking Down No-Hire Agreement

Fisher Phillips on 5/4/2021

In a decision resolving a dispute that has been pending for nearly five years, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania just voided a no-hire provision entered into by two companies that bound one of them from hiring former...more

The Netherlands: A competing former employee? Take action!

Littler on 3/26/2021

Employers in the Netherlands should take action if they find out that a (soon-to-be or) former employee is going to work for a competitor. If they do not do so or fail to do so on time, they risk being left empty-handed, as...more

Employees Laid Off As A Result Of COVID-19 Ask Courts To Find Their Non-Compete Agreements Unenforceable

Fisher Phillips on 9/14/2020

Since the onset of COVID-19 and the related business shut-downs, employers across the country have been forced to make the difficult decision to lay off or terminate many of their employees. Of the tens of millions who have...more

Enforcing Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Provisions in Virginia: Three Recent Takeaways From a Virginia Trial Court

ArentFox Schiff on 3/6/2020

In a recent opinion, the Fairfax Circuit Court deemed unenforceable the non-compete and employee non-solicitation provisions of two doctors who had performed work for the United States Army on behalf of a government...more

Non-Compete News: Georgia Court Holds Contractor Owes Fiduciary Duty/Duty of Loyalty

FordHarrison on 3/3/2020

In late 2019, the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta federal court) addressed the duties owed when an independent contractor leaves one trucking company to work for another. In Wind Logistics Prof’l v. Universal Truckload,...more

Trade Secrets 101: If You Want To Call Something a Trade Secret, You Have To Take Steps To Protect It

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on 12/10/2019

Courts have long held that, in order for something to be considered a “trade secret,” a business owner has to actually make efforts to keep the supposed trade secret a secret. It stands to reason that if no efforts are made...more

Colorado Court of Appeals Declines to Revise Overly Broad Noncompetition Agreements

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP on 7/31/2019

Colorado employers may want to consider whether their noncompetition agreements are narrowly tailored to meet their needs or whether some revision may be prudent, in light of a decision rendered by the Colorado Court of...more

Louisiana Court Finds Nonsolicitation/Noncompetition Agreement Is Enforceable

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 2/26/2019

When Jay Baker, the vice president of Causin, L.L.C., quit to create a competing business, Causin sued to enforce Baker’s nonsolicitation/noncompetition agreement. Baker defended the claim in part by arguing the agreement’s...more

Unfair Competition: What Happened in 2018, and What's in Store for 2019

Littler on 2/11/2019

From sweeping legislation to unexpected case law, and everything in between, 2018 brought a lot of changes to unfair competition law....more

Non-Compete News: In Georgia, Whether It Is a Non-Compete or a Non-Solicit Makes All the Difference

FordHarrison on 10/18/2018

Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act (the “RCA”) became effective in May 2011, but it took nearly six years before a court published a decision interpreting the statute in the context of a non-competition provision....more

Massachusetts Court Provides Guidance on Choice of Law and Forum Selection Clauses in Restrictive Covenants

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 10/1/2018

With Massachusetts’s comprehensive noncompete law taking effect on October 1, 2018, many employers are reviewing and likely revising their restrictive covenants to ensure that they are compliant with the new law. In...more

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