Can a person be sued if he left his current employment and worked for a competitor dealing in similar trade?

Question

Can a person be sued if he left his current employment and worked for a competitor dealing in similar trade?
He has sign an employment contract which stated that "he is not supposed to work in a simlar trade or product for a competitor within 6 months after he left"
Although he has sign his employment contract that stated this?

Answer 1

If he signed that contract, he can probably be sued.

Answer 2

In the UK, as many others have said, if not working for a competitor is already stated in your terms of employment, and you have signed it, then there is no reason to get you to sign anything else, other than that there is a loophole with their previous wording, or the timescale isn't long enough. I personally would refuse to sign the new document. Additionally, whilst the terms of employment you have already signed, which include not working for any competitor, are legal, I don't know many companies that would go to the lengths of taking an ex-employee to court over it, as it is a costly process and there is always a chance that it can be seen as an unfair term. i.e. If you work for sales in a specialist company (for instance wheelchairs), then that is your specialist area and to prevent you from working for a competitor basically prevents you from working in your chosen career - and that could be seen as an infringement of your human rights I believe.

Answer 3

If he signed an employment contract with a specific non-compete clause like you quote, then yes he could be sued for breaching that contract. Just like any other agreement.

However, a broad clause like that effectively makes the person unemployable for 6 months. And many courts would not enforce that clause because of public policy concerns.

Answer 4

if the person signed the contract with 1st employer, then went to work for 2nd employer that is a competitor within that 6 month period, then yes, they can be sued for breach of contract. now, will that 1st company actually pursue it considering the cost of legal fees, whether the employee is worth it or not, how it will affect their other current and future employees view of the company and the contract, and potential negative media coverage? that is up to the 1st company to decide.

Answer 5

Most contract like this are for the protection of some intellectual property. If you were a computer program writer for company A and went to work for company B. Company A may sue to protect whatever project you were working on. On the other hand if you were just the janitor, they probably wouldn't care.

Answer 6

Anti-competitive clauses are pretty much unenforceable unless your former employer can show that you took your customers with you before the six months were up, or that your new employer took advantage of the Proprietary info you brought with you.

The courts don't like to prevent people from working in their field.

Answer 7

MadPol1 is NOT an attorney as evidenced by the total lack of legal education in the answer. The ONLY state in which non-competes have been found to be unenforcable on their face is in California and that by direction of the Appellate courts.

In ALL other states, the validity of the non-compete is based on its reasonablness and scope. In this particular instance, as you've been told, the agreement is reasonable and on its face, enforceable.

Answer 8

If he signed a contract he is bound by its terms unless the contract was breached by the employer first.

Answer 9

No. Take it to the small claims court. You cannot be stopped from following a career where you have skill. They cannot control your work choices after you leave their employ.