Non-Compete Agreements in Florida

Businesses, both large and small, must ensure that they protect their greatest assets – confidential information/trade secrets and employees. One common method is to have employees execute non-compete agreements, which require that the employee not work for a competitor for a specific period of time after their employment ends. Such agreements can and should also restrict the employee from soliciting customers or clients and/or employees of the former employer for the employee’s new endeavor.
In Florida, courts are generally willing to enforce proper non-compete agreements, although most cases settle prior to getting that far. A valid non-compete should be reasonable in temporal and geographic scope. Specifically, an agreement is considered reasonable if the restriction is for 6 months to 2 years and the geographic area is defined as the actual area in which the employee provided services. The agreement should also be limited to restricting competition in the type of work the employee was doing on the job.

The best non-compete agreements will contain restrictions within the appropriate scope and with detailed description of protected areas. Florida courts do, however, have the discretion of “blue penciling,” which is reducing an unreasonable temporal or geographic scope so that it is reasonable and then enforcing the reasonable scope. Further, Florida non-competes are valid even if the only thing the employee gets for signing the agreement is initial or continued employment (even if just for one day). Moreover, the agreement can be binding whether the employee voluntarily resigns or is terminated, with or without cause, depending on the terms of the agreement.

Example: If a salesperson based in Orlando sells product to customers throughout the U.S. and executes a non-compete agreement with his or her employer restricting him or her from holding a similar position for a period of 2 years anywhere in the U.S., a Florida court will most likely enforce the agreement and preclude the individual from working for the competitor.

The content of this post is for informational purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute the giving of legal advice.

When should you hire a lawyer for your business?

Many business people seem to think of lawyers as a tool you keep in your toolkit.  You pull it out when you have a specific need and then put it back for another day.  This is a very reactive approach and rarely a good practice for your business.  Worse is when you don't even know an attorney to use until something has already happened and you have an immediate need.

To answer the question posed in the title to this post, you should not only hire but engage a lawyer for your business as soon as possible.  A good business lawyer can help you plan and manage and protect your business.  Finding and engaging an attorney can allow you to better predict things, good and bad, that could happen with your business.

Put an amount in your annual budget for hiring quality counsel.  It is money well spent and can mean the difference between a successful business, ready for what lies ahead, and a business that is already in trouble.  Having counsel guide you along the way can save a lot of money that will be needed if you end up in litigation or have other problems. 

I help new clients who have immediate needs, but often their retainer has to be a lot higher.

First Post

This is my first post.  I'm looking forward to adding content and hopefully helping business people with legal issues.  More to come . . .