In my last post I talked about noncompetes in the employment context, and how it affects the employer. But what about how noncompetes affect employees and the overall economy?
There have been many calls to change the permissive policy about noncompetes in light of the fact that they are stifling competition and preventing people from finding jobs.
Recent studies also show that over-enforcement of noncompetes stifles employee performance.
Noncompete law changes every few years, and right now it is being reconsidered once again.
Currently, Georgia’s noncompete law allows noncompetes for 4 different types of employees – those who regularly solicit and engage in sales, those who primarily manage and direct the work of others, “key” employees and professionals. From this list at least two things are obvious: one, there’s room for interpretation on some of these terms, and two, the law doesn’t provide that every employee can be required to sign a noncompete. There’s no real value in getting noncompetes with low-wage employees, and those noncompetes probably won’t be enforceable anyway.
All that to say that business owners need to have a plan for periodic review of all of their employee agreements, including noncompetes.
As a former in-house lawyer, I’ve reviewed and managed thousands of contracts and I get that clients usually don’t want to read long legal memos. They’re looking for a key advisor to provide practical and proactive legal risk management.
If that resonates with you, give me a call.