Friday, July 20, 2007

Two More Ways to Leverage Your Way Out of A Non-Compete

On this post, I listed three ways to leverage your way out of a non-compete in Maryland:

  • Convince your employer to reduce your non-compete obligations by agreeing not to initiate litigation. Another way to put this is convince your employer that the litigation will be more expensive than the benefit of enforcing a non-compete.
  • Find out what your employer's real interests are. It may not want you working for its established competitors and may not care if you are working for a start up.
  • Give a little. Do you have something the employer wants, like money it owes you for severance? You might offer something of value in exchange for a release from any non-compete obligations.

Here are two more:

  • Examine your affirmative claims. Do you have a wage payment, overtime, or discrimination claim that is of equal or greater value to your employer's claimed non-compete violation? If so, it may make sense for the parties to release each other from the alleged violations in a settlement agreement rather then pursuing expensive litigation.
  • Convince your employer that the non-compete agreement is not aimed at a protectable interest.

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