Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Re: Noncompete agreement

Your zip code says you are in Portland. I am assuming your old employer is across the river in Washington? Anyway, I can only answer as to Washington law.

It is impossible to answer without knowing exactly how your non-compete agreement reads, whether it defines how the distance is to be measured and whether it says anything that specifically or implicitly includes branch offices.

It is probably encouraging to know that you have two things operating in your favor. First, contracts are construed against the drafter. This means that, because your former employer wrote the non-compete (or had it written) ambiguities will generally be interpreted in your favor. Second, courts tend to disfavor non-competes as being a restraint of trade. Your former employer must be able to show that the agreement was necessary to protect valuable trade secrets. The court will also look at whether enforcement of the contract is contrary to the interests of the general public. In other words, a lot depends on what kind of work you do and why the former employer felt a non-compete was needed.

I would urge you to spring for an hour of an attorney's time to look at the specific contract and also discuss your specific line of work.

You may also want to discuss this matter with your new employer if you have not already done so. You may not like the idea of disclosing this, but be aware that your old employer can also name your new employer in the lawsuit if the old employer decides to take offense at your new job. That's probably not the way you want the new employer to find out about the problem.