Restrictive covenants in the US: navigating the quagmire of enforceability

نویسنده

  • Barbara J Harris
چکیده

Post-employment restrictive covenants in the context of employment relationships have long posed challenges for employers. Both the nature of the agreement and the context in which it is entered into impact the enforceability of restrictive covenants. The lack of a unified or “national” body of law on restrictive covenants within the US further complicates the issue. For example, in some states, restrictive covenants are governed by the common law of contracts, and generally will be enforced if they are “reasonable” under the circumstances. Yet even the concept of what is “reasonable” varies from state to state. Other states have enacted statutes specifically governing restrictive covenants, often imposing strict requirements on the enforcement of the covenants and, in some cases, virtually prohibiting them. Ultimately, the enforceability of any restrictive covenant will depend on which state’s law applies, which in turn may depend on where the dispute is litigated.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

THE ENFORCEABILITY OF No - HIRE PROVISIONS IN MERGERS , ACQUISITIONS AND OTHER ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES

Human capital has become the principal competitive advantage for many businesses in today's increasingly specialized marketplace. In order to protect human capital, no-hire agreements have become boilerplate provisions in many types of contracts. Despite their prevalence, these agreements have not been uniformly and predictably enforceable, due to conflicting methods of interpretation from stat...

متن کامل

Restrictive covenants in physician employment agreements.

Virtually all physician employment relationships are governed by employment agreements in which the physician and employer exchange promises. When embodied in contracts, promises are also known as "covenants." Certain covenants are restrictive in nature, including, most notably, covenants which prohibit competition ("non-competes"). Legal considerations regarding non-competes in particular cent...

متن کامل

Non-Compete Agreements and Unfair Competition — An Updated Overview

Michael B. Kass INTRODUCTION Contracts are enforceable, right? Not always, at least not when it comes to non-compete agreements. Indeed, employers and their employees often have misconceptions about the enforceability of restrictive covenants. The employer is often convinced of its ability to enforce the agreement to prevent its employee from competing, while the employee often believes that th...

متن کامل

Locked In? The Enforceability of Covenants Not to Compete and the Careers of High-Tech Workers

The research program of the Center for Economic Studies (CES) produces a wide range of economic analyses to improve the statistical programs of the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of these analyses take the form of CES research papers. The papers have not undergone the review accorded Census Bureau publications and no endorsement should be inferred. Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are th...

متن کامل

Corporate Refinancing, Covenants, and the Agency Cost of Debt

How valuable are restrictive debt covenants in reducing the agency costs of debt? I answer this question by exploiting the revealed preference decision to refinance fixed-coupon debt, which weighs observable interest rate savings against the unobservable costs of a change in restrictive debt covenants induced by refinancing. Plausibly exogenous variation in this trade-off reveals that firms req...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2012