Non Compete Agreement Nebraska

You may want to consider an injunction to try to prevent the former employee from following your customers. However, for the court to issue an injunction, you must provide evidence that in a court case, your non-compete obligation is likely to be enforced. You must also prove that if the non-compete obligation is not enforced, you will suffer an irreparable breach. You should also point out the difficulties that unfair competition from your former employee would cause you. Do not worry. Nebraska courts will not change an agreement that is too broad. On the contrary, they will declare it null and void. For this reason, it is important to write a close agreement that prevents an employee from advertising only for customers with whom that employee has actually dealt, and only for the time that is really needed. Yes.

Courts recognize that a buyer of a company has the right to protect the goodwill it buys and are therefore more inclined to allow non-compete obligations as long as they adequately limit the duration of the non-compete obligation and the geographic area it covers. Remember that the courts only protect against “unfair” competition and do not protect an employer from normal competition. There is both good and bad news. Nebraska courts will enforce certain types of non-compete obligations, but they must be carefully designed and appropriately limited. In this article, we will explore some of the most discussed topics related to non-contests in Nebraska. If my company`s non-compete agreement is valid in Nebraska and the employee still violates it, can I claim damages? Is it a good idea to include a provision in a non-compete obligation that allows the court to change an agreement that it considers too restrictive? Given the wide range of approaches taken by different countries, creating a non-compete agreement for employers with multi-state companies is particularly challenging. But even employers operating in a single jurisdiction need to be clear about what is required in their respective states. Nebraska is a perfect example, as Nebraska does not allow “real” non-compete obligations (i.e., prevents an employee from working for a competitor in the same industry).

Nebraska`s well-developed jurisprudence does not allow employers to restrict employees in their solicitation, and only if the restriction is limited to customers with whom the employee has done business and had personal contact. In addition, Nebraska courts are not reforming non-compliant restrictions. This means that a simple mistake (i.B. attempting to have a non-solicitation agreement for all of the employer`s clients, not just those with whom the employee has personally contacted and done business) would likely result in the cancellation of the entire restriction if challenged in a Nebraska court. Non-compete obligations, also known as competition clauses or restrictive covenants, are employment contracts used by employers to limit an employee`s ability to compete with the employer by stealing customers or trade secrets. Enforceable agreements must balance the protection of the employer`s legitimate business interests against unfair competitive advantage with the employee`s right to work in a field for which he or she is trained. In general, courts decide what is deemed appropriate or inappropriate by considering the nature and size of the business, the duration and geographic area to which the restrictions apply, and whether the employee received a reasonable consideration or benefit at the time the contract was signed. Agreements may be considered unenforceable if a court finds that they are inappropriate in terms of duration, geographical scope and type of employment or restricted industry. Nebraska courts have always held that if any part of an agreement is unreasonable, the entire agreement is invalid.

The court will not change or remove offensive language to make the agreement legal. The geographical area covered by a non-compete obligation may not be larger than the area in which the employee worked for the employer. In other words, if the employee`s territory was Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota, you shouldn`t stop them from competing “anywhere in the United States” or Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, etc. A Nebraska court upheld a summary judgment for an employee who worked for a competitor in the same building as his former employer, largely within the scope of his alliance`s geographic prohibitions, which did not show that the former employee had solicited clients from that former employer. There is no law or regulation that regulates non-compete obligations in the state of Nebraska. In Nebraska, a non-compete obligation is enforceable where applicable. A non-compete obligation is appropriate if it is not prejudicial to the public interest, if the restrictions are not greater than what is reasonably necessary to protect the employer in a legitimate commercial interest, and if it is not excessively severe and oppressive for the employee. In order to balance these considerations, States have developed different legal standards on what should and should not be enforceable in the context of a non-compete obligation. It is this framework that sets a trap for the negligent employer; Failure to formulate restrictions in a manner consistent with applicable law may result in the invalidity or aggravation of such restrictions. As recent developments have shown, the Non-Competition Act and other restrictive agreements are constantly evolving, which means that employers must regularly review and update their agreements to ensure their applicability.

For example, the following laws relating to non-compete obligations did not come into force until last year: Perhaps. Employers may be able to obtain agreements that prohibit the use and/or disclosure of confidential information or trade secrets. However, this information can only be protected for the duration of its useful life. The identity of customers is not necessarily a trade secret. This also applies to customer pricing information. In one case, the court issued a summary judgment to a former employee if the employer could not prove that the customer`s pricing information was a trade secret. Calling something “confidential” doesn`t necessarily make it that way. They must treat confidential information as truly confidential, restrict access to it, and take precautions to protect it from disclosure.

The signatory parties should meet on the day of execution. Both should take the time to read this document, and then when it is time to officially conclude this agreement, everyone will have a specific area to meet their entry requirements. “The Company”, whose legal name was previously presented, must designate an authorized representative who will provide a binding signature on its behalf using the first row of the left column at the bottom of this page. Under the signature, the authorized representative must also present his or her printed name and title to that company. Finally, he must enter the current date when signing these documents in the “Date” line. If my company`s head office is located in another state that allows more restrictive regulations than Nebraska, can I include a provision in the agreement that states that the law of a state other than Nebraska will be used to interpret and enforce the non-compete obligation? A non-compete obligation is a form of contract and the law requires that there be a “consideration”, i.e. something of value that is exchanged for the contract to be valid. .