Check You Employment Agreement's Restrictive Covenant

A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Flatiron Health, Inc. v. Carson¹ found that an employer's restrictions on a former employee were unenforceable. This case highlights a knot that has formed in the law of non-compete agreements. To untangle the knot, a trial court must look past an accumulation of other trial court decisions, to the appellate decision that started it all. That is what the federal trial court effectively did in this case.

The Law of Restrictive Covenants

Contract law treats employee non-compete agreements differently than other agreements. In New York, as in many other states, these agreements are looked at unkindly. It is not infrequent that an employer is unable to enforce a non-compete agreement.