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Regulating Noncompetes Beyond The Common Law: The Uniform Restrictive Employment Agreement Act, Stewart J. Schwab
Regulating Noncompetes Beyond The Common Law: The Uniform Restrictive Employment Agreement Act, Stewart J. Schwab
Indiana Law Journal
The common law has never treated a post-employment noncompete agreement between employer and employee like an ordinary contract. Rather, a court will enforce a noncompete only if it is reasonably tailored in time, geography, and scope of business to further a legitimate employer interest. Suppressing competition is an understandable but not legitimate interest.
While the common-law approach works well enough for some occupations, it is problematic for both workers and employers in many cases. It is a challenge for workers who don’t know about the noncompete until after starting work, for lowwage workers who are unlikely to have trade secrets …