Walk It Through: The New Job
A clause about working elsewhere, a court that may cut it down, and an application that may not ask about an arrest.
An office worker leaves for a competitor, and the old employer points to a clause about working elsewhere.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One worker and two employers. Trade secrets, non-solicitation clauses, and background check reports under federal rules are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Noncompetition agreementAn agreement an employer obtains from an employee that protects the employer's reasonable competitive business interests and bars the employee from working in a line of business after termination, if it is reasonable in duration, geographical area and type of work.
- FelonyIn the code of criminal procedure, a violation of a penal law for which the offender may be punished by imprisonment for more than 1 year, or an offense expressly designated by law to be a felony.
- MisdemeanorA violation of a penal law that is not a felony, or of a state agency's order, rule or regulation, punishable by imprisonment or by a fine that is not a civil fine.