Orange County, CA – Are you an employee? Go find your employment agreement (the contract you signed when you started work at the company) and open it up. I would bet that 75% of the employment agreements in California have some sort of provision that reads like this:
The undersigned Employee hereby agrees not to directly or indirectly compete with the business of the Company and its successors and assigns during the period of employment and for a period of X years following termination of employment and notwithstanding the cause or reason for termination.
If you’re an employee, you’re in luck. These “non-compete” clauses (also called “covenants not to compete” or “restrictive covenants”) are almost entirely invalid in California. If you’re an employer, can you ever restrict your current and former employees from competing? Find out after the jump…