Noncompete Agreement Litigation Lawyers
In industries that rely on trade secrets for continued success, employers may require their employees to sign a “Noncompete Agreement” which prohibits them from discussing or revealing the company’s trade secrets. A trade secret may take the form of: information, strategies, programs, recipes, etc., which help a company excel, and, if discovered by a competing company, may damage their business.
What Is a Noncompete Agreement?
For companies with valuable trade secrets, employers will likely create a noncompete agreement for their employees to sign. Generally, these agreements prohibit current and former employees from:
- Working for competing companies
- Revealing specialized knowledge to competing companies, within a certain time frame or geographical region
- Obtaining and using customer information for purposes other than businesses
Violations
If an employee signs a noncompete agreement, but violates its tenants, that individual may be taken to court by his or her employers. The court ruling may depend on the terms of the noncompete agreement, as well as when the employee signed it. If the time frame and geographical restrictions were reasonable, the employee may be liable; however, if the employee was asked to sign the agreement after his or her hiring, the courts may dismiss the charges.
In order to ensure that your employees will honor your business’ trade secrets, it is best to make noncompete agreements mandatory for employment.
Contact Us
To learn more about noncompete agreements, or how to file a claim for the violation of a noncompete agreement, contact the noncompete agreement litigation lawyers at the Burk Law Firm, P.C. by calling 512-306-9828 today.
