Chris ***** agrees not to compete with Carolina Clean in the practice of Window Cleaning while working for Carolina Clean and for a period of 5 years after termination of employment within a radius of 200 miles of Carolina Clean.
For purposes of the covenant not to compete, competition is defined as owning or working for a business of the following type: Window Cleaning.
In Witness Whereof, Carolina Clean and Chris ******* have signed this agreement.
I think in a court of law, at least in IL you will be hard pressed to make that stick. The parameters are two wide and the length is too long. The courts frown heavily on an employer trying to keep an employee from making a living. I would recommend you define that 200 miles. Why did you come up with that number. Is that your furthest account? You might be better off to define counties. It is much more precise and tells the judge exactly what you are trying to protect.
My other advise would be to have your attorney draft it. After all isnt he who your going to call if it goes bad. At least he will be defending a document he wrote not to mention you go into this new relationship with employee knowing exactly what you can and cant do. It wont cost anymore than 100-150 a bargain for the protection and the peace of mind.
Contracts, no-compete, Covenants, whatever you want to call it wont do you a thing but cost you time and money in the courts if you decide to go that way.
I would still use one if and when I hire employees just to make it look official. But if a employee decided to steal my business I’ll make sure I break his thumbs and fingers
I have heard that you want it to be a non-piracy agreement. You should be able to protect your proprietary information-customers, the address and phone numbers,what you charge. Might be hard pressed to stop an employee from becoming a competitor though.
It’s too vague. We have non compete that was written up by our lawyer and it’s 2 pages. If you want I can shoot you over a copy, just send me your info.
Non compete forms don’t usually work. A previous employer had me sign one of these and then threw it up in my face when I tried to quit. Two things he didn’t realize I guess were that 1- I wasn’t competing against him since he owned a tinting business and I was moving into wcing, and 2- I was 17 when I signed the form and he didn’t realize that minors can’t sign binding contracts. He used it as intimidation, I will say that it does work in some cases not all.
