If you are leaving employment, you may find that your employer is seeking to enforce a non-compete clause or a restricted covenant in your contracted employment. These clauses might operate to restrict what you can do once you’ve left. For instance, you may be prevented from going to work for a competitor or from having contact with clients or customers of your previous employer. Is there anything that can be done about these clauses? Well, the answer is, unfortunately, it depends. There is currently no hard and fast rule about the length of time that a restriction can be put in place on your activities after you leave an employment. These are very much decided on a case-by-case basis, looking at what is reasonable in all the circumstances and what legitimate interests your previous employer is trying to protect. An employment law specialist solicitor can review your restrictive covenants and advise whether or not they would be enforced by a court, and you can then make a decision as to what you want to do. It’s worth bearing in mind that there is a change on the horizon. The government has indicated that it wants to bring in legislation to say that non-compete clauses will only be able to operate for a maximum of three months post-employment. At present, that law has yet to come into force, but it does signal a change in the way that the courts may look upon these clauses going forward. As I said, taking specialist legal advice before you do anything is vital to make sure that you don’t breach any restrictions upon you as that can lead to injunction proceedings and a claim for damages against you.
