Many employment contracts include an agreement that, for some
period of time following their employment, the employee will not
work for a competitor or solicit business from the company's
customers and/or suppliers. These belong to a category of clauses
called "restrictive covenants", so named because they
attempt to restrict an employee's post-employment conduct. They
are also sometimes referred to as "non-competes" or
"non-solicits".
These clauses can cause headaches at the end of an employment
relationship, either for the employee or the employer, depending on
how well the clause was drafted.
For employees, a restrictive covenant could interfere with their
plans for what's next in their career when leaving their job
and expose them to a lawsuit by their former employer. Many
employees forget their employment agreement even included a
restrictive covenant. Other than those making a drastic career
move, many employees leaving a job (voluntarily or after
