Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia
Enforceability of non-compete
My husband is a software developer whose company recently lost a contract. Normally, the company that wins the contracts simply hires the employees that worked for the losing company. However, my husband's company is claiming a non-compete is in place (although my husband and other employees are not aware of signing any thing other than a company handbook). Can a company lay off an employee and then prohibit them to work for with any competitor? (My husband never had acccess to any proprietary info or trade secrets). Also, the handbook my husband signed simply states he acknowledges recieving the handbook, but that signing it does not ''constitute a contract''. My question is: if the company terminate shim, can they enforce a ''noncompete'' from a handbook where the first line stresses it is not a contract?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Enforceability of non-compete
As a general proposition non-compete agreements are difficult to enforce against a non-owner employee. To have an enforsable non-compete you are in most cases going to have to have an employment contract. It almost seems that there is more here than you have indicated, but assuming that these are indeed all the facts it appears your husband�s former employer may be bluffing. To be on the safe side your husband should talk with an attorney who is knowledgeable in the employment area. With many firms such an initial consultation should not cost anything.
Good luck.
Re: Enforceability of non-compete
What's the company's authority for "claiming a noncompete is in place"? If it's only the handbook, by their own admission that is not a contract and, therefore, in all likelihood there is no enforceable noncompete agreement.
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