Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia

My position was eliminated by my employer in January. I was asked to

sign a non compete if I wanted my severance package. In the state that

I was in, and being naive, I signed the non compete. There are still 6

months for this non compete to expire. Now, I have a job offer from a

competitor, but my non compete states that:

"For the period of one year, you agree not to contact in any manner on

my own behalf or on the behalf of any other person or entity, any

customer of (the company), its parent company, or sister companies for

the purpose of directly or indirectly attempting to solicit, divert or

take away the business or patronage of such clients or customers of

(the company), its affiliates, corporate parents, or related

entities".

"You acknowledge that you have carefully read and considered paragraph

6 above, and having done so, you agree that the restrictions set forth

in paragraph 6 are fair and reasonable, and legitimately required for

the protection of (the company's) business, interests and goodwill.

In the event that any part or portion of paragraph 6 is deemed by any

court or jurisdiction to be overboard or otherwise invalid, you

authorize the said court to to enforce paragraph 6 above to the

fullest extent possible to protect the interests of (the company). In

addition, you agree that damages in the event of a breach by you to

paragraph 6 above, would be difficult if not impossible to ascertain,

and you therefore agree that if such breach occurs, (the company) in

addition to and without limiting any other remedy or right it may

have, shall have the right to injunction or any other equitable

relief, in any court of competent jurisdiction, enjoining any such

breach, and you hereby waive any and all defences you may have on

grounds of lack of jurisdiction or competence of the court to grant

such an injunction or equitable relief."

Now, to be able to hire me, my prospective employer needs my ex

employer to either divulge a whole list of clients of the entire

group, since they expect me not to solicit to ANY of them.( I am not

aware of the entire group client list as I did not come into contact

with all of them) OR, modify clause 6 so that it encompasses ONLY the

clients of my ex company that I personally interacted with OR release

me from the non compete completely. Keep in mind that my position is

that of a customer service representative, and I am NOT involved in

sales. However my prospective company feels that the clause is all

encompassing and excessive, and vague, and they need to know the names

of all the clients before they can hire me so that there is no

inadvertant violation of the clause after hire.

My question is this - In the event that my ex employer refuses to help

out by modifying or removing the clause in the non compete, Is there

any way that I can I force my ex employer to give me a list of clients

that they expect me to stay away from since the premise of this clause

surrounds them?

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in Virginia

Looking for something else?