Insights

Restrictive Covenants: Non-Solicit

May 22, 2023

We are continuing our discussion of restrictive covenants this week with an overview of non-solicit provisions.  In essence, a non-solicit provision prohibits a former employee from soliciting its former employer’s current, prior or prospective customers and/or employees for a specified period of time.

In general (it varies State by State), courts are more likely to enforce a non-solicit of employees or customers clause than a strict non-compete provision.  The main factors that a court will look at include whether the non-solicit:

  • provides adequate consideration for the employee’s agreement to this restrictive covenant;
  • has a valid, protectable interest in having the non-solicit provisions enforced; 
  • imposes restrictions on the geographic scope, duration, and type of prohibited activities that are reasonably limited to protect the employer’s protectable interest; and
  • allows the employee to earn a livelihood in their field of work.

The bottom line is that like a non-compete, the non-solicit provision typically must be fair and reasonable.   If you have questions, please make sure you follow up with your professional business advisors.

Here are a few other things that may be of interest:

As always, please don’t hesitate to email myself (jsanders@mpl-law.com), Andy Miller (amiller@mpl-law.com), Christian Miller (cmiller@mpl-law.com), Erik Spurlin (espurlin@mpl-law.com), Brad Leber (bleber@mpl-law.com) or anyone in our office with questions or comments.  

Please see all of our prior updates at this link or if you would like to be added to our email list, please click here.  

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