Non-Compete Agreements: How Employers can Define and Protect Their Legitimate Business Interests
Thomas B. Lewis, Chair of Stark & Stark's Employment Litigation Group, and Mark F. Kowal, member of Stark & Stark's Employment Litigation Group authored the article, Non-Compete Agreements: How Employers can Define and Protect Their Legitimate Business Interests, for the March 2010 edition of Mercer Business Magazine.
The article discusses what employers should do when employees have left their company and have taken with them significant knowledge which they could share with a competitor or use to start their own business. Mr. Lewis and Mr. Kowal suggest that in order to defend the business and ensure long-term success, employers should have employees sign a non-compete agreement which will protect the employer from having an employee compete with them once they have left for a specific period of time and within a specific geographic region.
The article discusses several provisions commonly included in non-compete agreements, and factors used in determining whether a non-compete is unreasonable, and therefore unenforceable. You can read the full article online here.
