I am located in CA. I signed a non-compete agreement becuase my ex-emplyor asked me to because he wanted to fire another employee. He wanted all the employees to sign one to show this guy that this was part of the company's procedure. The employer never gave me a copy and stated it was just for that one reason. After about 2months I decided to leave the company because of 2 reasons... 1- he forgot or just intensionally did nopt pay me my commission (i'm in sales) and also found out he was doing some illegal things, and i did not want to be a part of it. I have been in sales for the last 8 yrs and decided I wanted to start my own company. (Same industry) He is now threatining me that he will sue me because we sell to some of the same customers. Does he have a case? It has only been almost 2months since I left that company. Is there a way I can void that contract, so I don't have to worry about in the future.

-- Sandy Jeong (sjeong4@socal.rr.com), March 06, 2004

Answers

The noncompete needs to be reviewed by an attorney familiar with employment law, but generally speaking, pure noncompete agreements are void and unenforceable in California. There are tricks used in the drafting that may render it subject to debate in the courts, so the language of the noncompete matters.

See an attorney to discuss how to void the agreement.

-- TCW (contact@wlg-ca.com), March 30, 2004.