Post-Employment Restraints: What is Reasonable?

In a recent case the NSW Court of Appeal (the "Court of Appeal"), considered the issue of whether the post-employment restraints of a senior manager and his more junior employee were reasonable. The post-employment restraints prevented the employees from joining a competitor.

The case was an appeal from the NSW Supreme Court which found that the post-employment restraints enforced by the employer, Employsure, upon the senior manager and junior employee, were reasonable and should apply for nine months.

You can read about the key principles of post-employment restraints in our article here.

The principle of "reasonableness" relates to whether the terms of the restraint are reasonable to protect the legitimate business interests of an organisation. This case explored the application of this principle in respect of two employees with disparate levels of seniority.