Wednesday, March 23, 2011

You Can’t Compete With Me – The Legality of Non-Compete Agreements | EmploymentDigest.net

Here is a good article on Non-Compete agreements.

You Can’t Compete With Me – The Legality of Non-Compete Agreements | EmploymentDigest.net
Millions of American’s wake up every day, get dressed in business attire, and head to work- only their “job” these days is actually looking for one. Unemployment rates are still hovering around 9.6% nationally, making this job market highly competitive and hard to crack into. Employers know this, and in a lot of ways, the sheer volume of applicants per job gives them the ability to exclude benefits, cut salaries and make demands that are sometimes not only unfair, but illegal.
One such demand that employers are placing on new-hires is that they sign a non-compete agreement. A non-compete is a document that restricts where and who you can work for should you be fired or quit. Is that legal and should you sign it? In a few states, they’re generally not legal. For example, in California, a non-compete agreement is enforceable only if someone sells a business and agrees not to compete with the new owner. That aside, California employers cannot restrict the livelihood of their current or former employees. For most other states the short answer to are non-competes legal is yes-however, the agreement has to be “reasonable” to be legal and upheld in court. Before signing, there are some things you should look for within the agreement itself before signing.
Article continued at
http://employmentdigest.net/2011/03/you-cant-compete-with-me-the-legality-of-non-compete-agreements/