Unlocking the Power of Online Signature Legitimateness for Non-Solicitation Agreement in Canada

How to eSign a document: online signature legitimateness for Non-Solicitation Agreement in Canada

[Music] why the terms again in the employment world we talk about him on this show on the radio show as well the non competition clause some people don't even ever have to worry about a lot of people do the non-compete is what we call it list uh let's talk about it what is it it is a lot more common these days you know when I started practicing law some fifteen years ago I didn't see it as often certainly not for every kind of day regular positions right now many employers probably most employers ask employees to sign on competition obligations now a non competition obligation as the name suggests is a term that you would sign either in an employment agreement or a policy that says that if you leave or our let go you cannot work for a competitor for a period of time that may also specify the the story the graphical location whether it's interesting drawn or whether it's an auto anywhere in Canada and so the period of time the geographical location but for many people that could be a huge problem if I've worked in an industry for my whole life and now I can work in this industry for two years that's a huge issue what do i do then so that's we want to talk a bit about that and give people the right information about non-competition obligation so you mentioned it's more common now that it used to be when you first started practicing so if you took 50 employment agreements now back then it might have been a few how many would you see half of those so certainly I would see it now for all agreements if it's a more senior position but even for people that are not in a senior or managerial position I'd probably still see that in 75% of agreements so it's very common so chances are if you're accepting a new job right now senior not so senior you probably will see a non competition obligation in it so if your CEO o CEO fiduciaries that's almost guaranteed to be an almost guaranteed I almost guarantee towards managers executives absolutely you'll see that guaranteed the next question about the non-compete is enforceability is it enforceable well so this is where it gets interesting for most people and non competition obligation is not enforceable it's not our courts have said that we don't like things that prevent people from learning a living okay so because of that for ninety five percent of people it's not enforceable what it is enforceable is for people in very senior positions fiduciaries people that are so important or in our organization that if they're gonna leave the company it's gonna hurt their former employer it's gonna damage it in a big way for most people you're watching us right now our courts have said that even if you signed it it's still not actually gonna be enforceable by the company but someone's listen going okay then I'll just ignore it and that's the natural reaction well good I know it's not enforceable who cares I'm gonna go work wherever I want well not so fast the reason I say not so fast because the question shouldn't be is it enforceable the question should be is your former company gonna try to enforce it because if your former company is gonna try to enforce it guess what's gonna happen they're gonna sue you they're probably gonna sue your new company and you're gonna be involved in a very long expensive and complicated legal battle now at the end of that legal battle you're gonna win because again it's not enforceable but it's not gonna cost you a lot of money it's gonna be very unpleasant so it's not gonna be a really good victory so my rule of thumb is very simple if you sign it you have to be prepared to live with it it's as simple as that so do not sign a non competition obligation unless you're prepared to abide by it if you just ignore it you run the risk of being sued not a pleasant situation you have to take it seriously if you can't take it seriously you wanna draw or if you can't abide by it then talk to your employer and negotiate deal with it rather than just ignore it you want to get a whole day or any time the rest of the team at the firm one eighty five five eight to one fifty nine hundred talking about the old non-competition agreement and your contract of work say okay say I have one I've been let go or I'm I want to leave and I want to be a good boy I want to abide by the contract but I got an employer who really wants me what do I do can i ago she ate it out can I talk to somebody so the first thing you want to do is try to address it to when you first start a job so if you can start a job and you have a non competition talk to your employer and say you know I've been working in this industry for my whole life I don't want to be out of this industry I'll agree not to take your clients I agree I'll agree to keep things confidential but please don't try to prevent me from working somewhere else if you did sign it and now it's time to leave and you want to work for a competitor be honest with your employer approach in the same way I'm not gonna go after your client I'm not gonna hurt your business but don't prevent me from working somewhere else with most employers if you approach them that way in an honest way in a forthright way they're gonna be reasonable and you can negotiate terms and they can relieve you release you of that non-competition obligation the problem is if you're not gonna do that if you're gonna simply ignore and go work across the street that's when the employer is gonna get suspicious that's when they're gonna get concerned and at that point you may find yourself with a lawsuit well the flip side of that coin of course is the employer so what does an employer do to protect himself say from employees leaving and going across the street or competitors I would say for employers really only use non competition obligations where your most senior people for those people that you really really can't imagine working from some for someone else because it's gonna hurt you for everyone else use non solicitation obligations have terms that say that if you leave you can't go after our clients you can't go after our other employees you can't go after our suppliers and you're gonna keep things confidential that's the best way to protect your business if you're going to use a non competition obligation be reasonable with it don't say you can't compete for two years anywhere in Canada may be limited to six months within a certain geographical area the more reasonable the non-competition obligation is the more likely it is to be enforced so remember employers are employees you can use that you can be smart about it but for employees you have to be very careful if you're just gonna sign it you cannot ignore it later on you have to address it be honest with your employer and try to work out a solution that it will avoid you being sued now one more thing before we wrap up this topic the non solicitation which you touched on that is enforceable yes so I'm like a null competition obligation a non solicitation obligation is enforceable and a non-solicitation obligation simply says that if you leave or we let you go you're not going to go after our clients customers employees those are enforceable for the most part employers should use them and an individual should be prepared to abide by them now you know non-competes more information on the way we'll take a short break 185 five eight two one 5900 helped at employment lawyer dot CA and