Taking Another Look at Noncompete Agreements

摘要

I get recurring questions about employee noncompete agreements. Many ILMA members have seen recent reports about government actions to attack overreaching noncompetes. Although I have written on this topic in previous columns, an update is in order. Noncompete agreements had become relatively commonplace across the U.S. However, the tipping point came in 2014, when New York's attorney general went after sandwich chain Jimmy John's for requiring new hourly-wage hires to sign noncompete agreements prohibiting them from working for another sandwich shop within two miles for two years after their employment. Jimmy John's asserted that its sandwich-making techniques were unique.