Restrictive Covenants - Enforceable At Any Level?

This question was recently considered by the English High Court and while many of us are a little disappointed that the issue has not yet finally been determined, the Court has thankfully provided a little more guidance to point employers in the right direction.

In this recent case, an employee who was originally employed as an Account Manager with a reputable IT software company was contractually required to comply with a twelve month non-compete restrictive covenant following termination of his employment. However, while restrictive covenants may not themselves appear an unreasonable concept and instead, a necessity to preserve business continuity, this particular clause prevented the employee from competing in a similar industry throughout the whole of Europe and the USA for one year; in other words, a relatively large global arena for a lengthy defined period.