There’s no doubt that self-driving cars will be the next big thing in the automobile industry, which is why Google got so upset when a former employee allegedly took trade secrets regarding their self-driving technology to a competitor. Anthony Levandowski claims he has been working on technology for driverless automobiles…
The Society for Human Resource Management recently published an interesting article discussing the use of non-compete agreements by businesses throughout the country and a White House paper on the issues raised by non-compete agreements. The article states in part: Noncompetes may be unpopular among employees, but they’re becoming more common,…
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all hourly, non-exempt employees are entitled to one and one-half times their normal hourly rate for all the overtime they spend working. It sounds simple enough, and for most workers it is, but employers need to make sure they’re including all the…
For the past few years, many of the large employers across the country have had to face the possibility of redefining what they consider to be “work.” The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not provide a definition of “work,” although the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) does define…
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) defines overtime as any time spent working after eight hours a day or forty hours a week. It also requires employers to pay their workers one and one-half times their normal hourly rate for all the overtime they spend working. Some employers maintain…
Non-compete agreements were initially included in employment contracts with high-level executives at tech companies, but in recent years employers have increasingly been including them in their contracts with almost all their workers. Non-compete agreements were designed to protect the company’s legitimate business interests by preventing executives with trade secrets and/or…
Non-compete agreements were originally created as a way for businesses to prevent competitors from poaching their employees. If a high-level executive who knows a lot about the company’s trade secrets and/or has established valuable relationships with clients takes those assets to a competitor working just around the corner, the result…
When someone makes a promise, many people will ask them to “put it in writing” as a way to make sure they follow through. These written documents then form contracts that can be upheld in court if necessary, but the courts don’t always agree to uphold a contract. Just because…
A recent trade secrets case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois may make individuals think twice before they attempt to recruit a proxy to get around a noncompete clause. (Orthofix Inc. v. Melissa Gordon (2016 WL 1170896)) Medical device company Orthofix Inc. sued former sales…
What happens when an employee brings substantial expertise and business contacts in a specialized area to a new employer, then the employer changes ownership and attempts to enforce restrictive covenants against him? A recent Illinois appellate case AssuredPartners, Inc. v. Schmitt, 2015 IL App (1st) 141863 (2015) does not bode…