Legal Question in Employment Law in Michigan
my last job was as service job and i was responsible for sales in a particular territory. the area that i services was deprissed and i was not able to compete because of major competition which put our pricing structure well above the competetors. because i was not able to compete in our service, my sales had dropped dramatically in the past few years. as of last july i was let go and the company i worked for did not see any reason to hire someone to replace me. i am currently on unnemployment and cannot find a job that pays as much as the unemployment pays. i cannot afford to take on a smaller paying job or i will lose my house due to lack of payments. currently the unemployment is enough to pay the mortgage and utilities for the house.
my question is if i am let go from a service company is the no compete clause i had to sign when i started working enforcable and am i allowed to start up my own buisness and approach the customers that my ex-employer has? i would like to start soon and not be on unemployment.
thank you for your response.
rich
1 Answer from Attorneys
Without knowing the exact wording of your no-compete, I can tell you that Michigan Courts do not favor such clauses when the worker is terminated under your circumstances.
No-competes are often rolled into employment contracts as a means to retain employees and are seldom enforced unless trade secrets are involved. The key question is "Does the fact that you compete with your former employer actually cause that employer to lose business?" If the answer is no or "not much", the employer usually will not incur the legal costs involved in an attempt to enforce the agreement.
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