When a company sues a former employee for breaching confidentiality and solicitation agreements, it needs more than generalized accusations in order to hold up in court. Bridgeview Bank Group employed Thomas M. as a senior vice president and SBA loan officer from 2013 to 2015. Thomas originally signed a noncompete…
If an Illinois employer drafts a post-employment restrictive covenant that is impermissibly overbroad, it cannot expect a court to modify it and enforce it, as a recent Third District appellate case illustrated. Brian S. joined Deere Employees Credit Union (DECU) in 2009 as an investment advisor at its main branch…
If you need to ask whether or not you can do a certain thing, the answer is probably no. When Thomas Dotoli and his wife drafted a contract to sell their companies to their daughter-in-law, Cheryl, they included a clause that allowed a court to modify the non-compete agreement if…
Almost everyone who has signed an employment agreement in the United States has most likely signed a noncompete agreement. They are agreements included in the contract that state that the employee will not work for a competitor of the employer in the event their employment is terminated for any reason.…
Federal courts applying Illinois law continue to side with employers in maintaining that former employees should not avoid liability for breaching employment agreements based on duration of employment. In Traffic Tech, Inc. v. Kreiter (2015 WL 9259544), the plaintiff, a Canadian-based transportation management company, hired defendant Jared K. as vice…
When a former employee of a company is accused of soliciting his ex-coworkers to defect to a competitor, can he challenge enforcement of a nonsolicitation agreement on the sole ground that he did not work for the company long enough? One more Illinois federal court has answered that question in…
Anytime someone works closely with a particular business, whether as an employee, franchisee, or even outside counsel, they are usually granted access to sensitive information regarding how the business is run. In order to keep their trade secrets safe and protect their business interests, companies frequently require certain people to…
Covenants not to compete, also known as non-compete agreements, are often used by businesses to prevent their employees from leaving the company and then using the knowledge they gained to compete with the employer within the same geographic territory. Such agreements are usually signed by an employee upon accepting employment,…
Your employer may demand that its new new employees sign a non-compete agreement before you start the job or if it is implementing a new program requiring such agreements. Such agreements usually go into effect when you leave that company. Employers ask you to sign non-competition agreements for a variety…
Our Chicago non-compete agreement attorneys have defended high level executives in covenant not to compete and trade secret lawsuits. A case in which our firm defended a former Motorola executive was covered in Crain’s Chicago business. You can view that article by clicking here. Lubin Austermuehle a firm…