Top 5 Recent Workplace Developments – July 2019

1. Supreme Court saves otherwise unenforceable non-compete covenant

The Supreme Court (the UK's highest court) has ruled that courts can in effect delete any part of a restriction in an employment contract that is too wide or too restrictive and enforce what's left.  The Court clarified when courts are entitled to edit contracts in this way.

For historic reasons only, the section of an employment contract which contains restrictions on what an employee can do is known as the restrictive covenant.  The Courts police carefully this type of agreement. It is well-established law that a restrictive covenant will only be enforceable if the employer has a legitimate business interest to protect and the protection sought is no more than is reasonably necessary to protect that interest. In assessing reasonableness and in order to get the balance right, the court will consider whether some lesser restriction would give the employer enough protection.