On June 24, 2013, an appellate court in Illinois made it more
difficult for Illinois employers, including those in the automotive
industry, to enforce non-solicitation and non-competition
provisions. Specifically, the court determined that such
restrictive covenants won't be enforceable unless the employee
in question works for at least two years after signing the
restrictive covenant. Generally speaking, like all contracts, there
must be sufficient consideration for courts to enforce restrictive
covenants. The Illinois court determined that, in the employment
setting, there would not be enough consideration for enforcement
until an employee had been employed for two years.
Several key facts make this case notable. First, the restrictive
covenants in question were agreed to upon the start of new
employment, not some months or years after the employee had begun
working for the company. Even so, the court still required two
years of employment before there would be
