Chip Collins has written an interesting post on "full time and attention"
clauses in employment contracts. These clauses often
state that an employee must devote his or her "full time and
attention" to the employer's business, i.e., the
employee cannot engage in other work, including side businesses or
preparing to compete with the employer, during the course of the
employment. Massachusetts employers might
benefit from including these provisions in
employment contracts in addition to non-compete, non-solicit, and
non-disclosure provisions. This is because "[n]o case
[in Massachusetts] stands for the proposition that a current or
former employee, even one subject to a noncompetition agreement or
duty of loyalty, may not prepare to compete with his or her
employer." Brooks Automation, Inc. v. Blueshift
Technologies, Inc., No. 06-P-1063, 2007 WL 1713370, *2 (Mass.
App. June 14, 2007) (unpublished). By adding the provision,
though, the employer can show a court that
