Restrictive Covenant Solicitor

What is a restrictive covenant in an employment contract?

Employers use restrictive covenants to protect sensitive information from being disclosed by an employee during and after their employment.

They can also be used to prohibit employees undertaking certain activities which could be detrimental to the businesses.

There are four main types of restrictive covenants in employment contracts and they can span over a number of time periods. These are as follows:

1. Non-competition clauses: preventing employees from working for competitors for a specified period of time, within a specified geographical area, to reduce the risk of sensitive information getting into the hands of a competitor.
2. Non-solicitation and non-dealing clauses: are used to prevent ex-employees from soliciting their clients or customers for their business. 
3. Non-poaching clauses: Prevents employees from encouraging former colleagues to leave you and join them in their new organisation.
4. Gardening Leave: An employer might enforce a garden leave clause to delay commencement of employment with a competitor.

Employer enforcing restrictive covenants

For your employer to successfully enforce such contractual clauses though the court they must be reasonable and carefully drafted.

For immediate advice, get in touch with a professional restrictive covenant solicitor from Caernarfon based solicitors, Winrow Solicitors.

This is a complex area of law, and it may well be that such restrictions are unenforceable.

We can advise you on the chances of successfully defending any actions your employer might take. Please contact us using the form below, and we can arrange a consultation as soon as possible.