The COVID-19 remote work era is now in its tenth month, and employees continue to work away from the physical office, without in-person supervision, and perhaps outside of the company network. During this time, many employees have been adopting new practices for performing their jobs remotely and these practices can create new and increased threats to the protection of company trade secrets ..read more

The recruitment and onboarding process can be fast-paced as employers and recruits go back and forth on salary, title, benefits, and more. Sometimes an impending deadline pushes the parties to move quickly, such as the start date for a big project for which the new recruit will be a key part of the team. In their anxiousness to just get started after an important recruit agrees to join the company, business leaders may be tempted to let the new hire start work while the parties “work out the details” of an employment agreement – potentially including the exact terms of restrictive covenants su ..read more

Can an employer enforce a noncompete against a former employee terminated during a reduction-in-force? Employer concerns of unfair competition are reemerging now that recently terminated employees are finding employment (some with competitors) in an improving economy ..read more

When it comes to physician employment agreements, non-compete provisions can be controversial and tricky. The use of these agreements is nonetheless increasing and evolving as hospitals and other groups try to protect their investments in successful medical practices, especially those that they helped launch and nurture. After assuming the risks and costs of building a medical practice, they obviously do not want to see employed doctors move their practices (and patients) to a competitor.    A recent study found that 36 million workers in this country are now subject to some sort of non-compe ..read more

Noncompete Reform Continues in New England: Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island All Pass New Laws Noncompete reform continues to crop up in New England. We previously wrote about comprehensive reform in Massachusetts late last year, and now three more states have passed legislation in recent weeks. All three states – Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island – now prohibit employers from entering noncompetition agreements with low-wage employees, though the definition of “low wage” varies by state. The bills in Maine and New Hampshire will soon become law, and the bill in Rhode Island has pa ..read more

Maryland has become the latest state to revise its noncompetition law to clamp down on the practice and further restrict the types of workers permitted to be bound by such restrictive covenants. On May 25, 2019, SB 328 officially became law in Maryland, prohibiting employers from entering into noncompetition agreements with employees who earn equal to or less than (1) $15 per hour or (2) $31,200 annually. If you have employees who work in Maryland and earn at or near the minimum wage, you need to be aware of this new law. The bill passed both houses of the state legislature and it automatical ..read more

In 2016, the White House issued a report that expressed a call to action for noncompetition reform at the state legislative level throughout our nation. Since then, many states have tinkered with their noncompetition laws in an attempt to narrowly define when and under what circumstances an employer can subject an employee to a noncompetition agreement. For example, less than a month ago Washington State enacted a law that significantly restricts noncompetition agreements with employees and independent contractors. A full summary of the new Washington law and restrictions can be found here. N ..read more

A Company’s Facebook Snooping Didn’t Prevent Critical Trade Secrets Injunction Can a former employer’s alleged misconduct defeat a request for injunctive relief against former employees when those departing workers take confidential information and clients to another employer? A federal appeals court recently addressed this question in Scherer Design Group, LLC v. Ahead Engineering LLC and decided not to apply the “unclean hands” doctrine against the employer in a trade secrets case, clearing the way for the injunction. While not a suggested approach that you should take without consulting w ..read more

Contractual Employee Non-solicitation Provisions Under Attack: Employer Loses Battle in Case Involving Unique Facts California’s prohibition against contracts that restrain a person’s ability to engage in a lawful business, profession, or trade is well-established and well-known. Ten years ago, in Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP (2008) 44 Cal.4th 937, the state Supreme Court confirmed that the only exceptions to that rule – Business & Professions Code section 16600 — are statutory exceptions, and rejected the “rule of reasonableness” that some courts had used to uphold the validity of non ..read more

Massachusetts Employers, Non-Compete Reform is Here!—How is Your Organization Addressing It? One month into Massachusetts’ new non-competition law, employers throughout the Commonwealth are learning what many predicted from the beginning—there are a lot more questions than answers. As Fisher Phillips previously reported, the new law adds several technical and substantive requirements that must be met in order to enforce a non-competition agreement. Today we spotlight a few issues employers must now grapple with. Who & What is Covered? Fortunately for employers, the statute exempts a numb ..read more