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mercurial
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Restraint of trade being forced on resignation
- Thread starter momo786
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^^vampire^^
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Unless you worked on a cutting edge piece of tech for someone like Apple and then wanted to go to Samsung then this whole argument is rather invalid. People that are that important are so rare that it makes that law case quoted before practically irrelevant.
Hi All
Thanks for the replies, really helps and puts things in perspective.
Bit of a background. Lots of people have been leaving, not necessary to competitors (except for one director who went to a direct competitor) so now the directors are trying to enforce restraints, preventing people from going to competitors.
It's a corporate finance firm, advising listed companies on compliance with JSE rules. So no in house designed systems/technology. It's basically the application of a publicly available set of rules. There is some IP in terms of documented systems/processes and customer lists. Competitor would have the similar IP. I won't be taking this with me, nor will I steal their clients.
Another guy left today and they also tried to get him so sign the same restraint letter. He refused, so they wrote on the letter that he refused to sign
So basically I'm not going to sign. Will be drafting a letter and attach my employment contract, saying that I will comply with these terms, and that I won't sign the restraint as it amounts to a variation of my employment contract, which I do not agree to.
They are now realizing that the current employment contracts are weak in terms of restraints, so now they are trying to get people to sign non-compete restraints. They initially tried to sneak the non-compete clause into the t&c's of an investment plan that they were implementing for senior staff.
My notice period ends next week Friday, so it's going to be an interesting week when they bring this up.
Have been reading about restraints for a while now. In most cases it seems that restraints are not upheld, but in the instance where some critical info that forms the lifeblood to a company is disclosed to competitors, restraints can be enforced, irrespective of whether restraint payments are made.
Will let you know what transpires.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the replies, really helps and puts things in perspective.
Bit of a background. Lots of people have been leaving, not necessary to competitors (except for one director who went to a direct competitor) so now the directors are trying to enforce restraints, preventing people from going to competitors.
It's a corporate finance firm, advising listed companies on compliance with JSE rules. So no in house designed systems/technology. It's basically the application of a publicly available set of rules. There is some IP in terms of documented systems/processes and customer lists. Competitor would have the similar IP. I won't be taking this with me, nor will I steal their clients.
Another guy left today and they also tried to get him so sign the same restraint letter. He refused, so they wrote on the letter that he refused to sign
So basically I'm not going to sign. Will be drafting a letter and attach my employment contract, saying that I will comply with these terms, and that I won't sign the restraint as it amounts to a variation of my employment contract, which I do not agree to.
They are now realizing that the current employment contracts are weak in terms of restraints, so now they are trying to get people to sign non-compete restraints. They initially tried to sneak the non-compete clause into the t&c's of an investment plan that they were implementing for senior staff.
My notice period ends next week Friday, so it's going to be an interesting week when they bring this up.
Have been reading about restraints for a while now. In most cases it seems that restraints are not upheld, but in the instance where some critical info that forms the lifeblood to a company is disclosed to competitors, restraints can be enforced, irrespective of whether restraint payments are made.
Will let you know what transpires.
Thanks again!
Don't sign it, I've had this sort of thing enforced before do will never sign a trade or industry restraint again without significant compensation for the duration of the restraint. Because in the end they have to not only pay salary for the duration of restraint at the level you exit on(yes this is important too) but also for loss in terms of career for that duration.
You've worked there for over 6.5yrs and they want you to sign before you leave. LMFAO.. Idiots, they can't make you sign when u about to leave. Go check your original contracts, they likely don't have any IP protection so they owe you big time
if you want to be nasty hahahahaha
You've worked there for over 6.5yrs and they want you to sign before you leave. LMFAO.. Idiots, they can't make you sign when u about to leave. Go check your original contracts, they likely don't have any IP protection so they owe you big time
if you want to be nasty hahahahaha
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True but usually it never gets to court unless the restrainee takes it there. Typically the company head will call the other and say they got xyz agreement, either comply or take court proceedings. If the one company is big enough with legal team and other smaller and evaluates your gain as not worthwhile they will simply retract offer.
Pretty much leaving you screwed