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I am in sales and have resigned from my present job to take up a job with a competitor. I have now been told that if I work for a competitor and target customers they will pursue legal action. Can they do this?
I work in sales and have been offered the same role with a competitor working within the same geographic location. I have just resigned from my current role and today have been told that if I work for a competitor then they will track me down and pursue legal action. I have no record of signing any documentation pertaining to the above although there is a policy on their Intranet stating that if you work for a competitor and target their customers then a twelve month time span must elapse before contact is made. Is this legal?
Restrictive covenants preventing ex-employees from soliciting customers with whom they have had either prior and / or existing business will usually be enforceable, provided that they are reasonable in geographical extent and they only apply for a reasonable period of time. This will largely depend on the nature of the business concerned.
In justifying that a such a clause is reasonable an employer will need to show the harm or potential harm that not having one may create in terms of the market in which the parties are operating and appropriateness to status of the employee involved. In terms of duration a clause depends on the life of the valuable information / customers (contract period) to be protected.
In your case it would appear that there are two added complications. First that the clause was not inserted into your contract but was placed on the intranet. Second that such clauses must not be general but specific to you.
Without further information it is not possible to comment on the legal status of the intranet announcement. It may be that it can be implied into the employment contract or deemed so general as to be unenforceable against you personally.
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