Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility

Non-competes are going to be harder to enforce in Washington State.  On May 8, 2019, Governor Jay Inslee signed the “Act Relating to Restraints, Including Noncompetition Covenants, on Persons Engaging in Lawful Professions, Trades or Businesses,” which was passed by both houses of the state legislature in April.

The new law will become effective January 1, 2020, and will render unenforceable non-competition provisions signed by employees earning less than $100,000 and independent contractors earning less than $250,000 annually.  Other important provisions of the law are as ...

Under Florida law, where an employment contract expires by its terms and the parties continue to perform as before, an implication arises that they have mutually assented to a new contract containing the same provisions as the old. But this principle does not apply to non-competes and other restrictive covenants contained in employment contracts, as illustrated by a recent decision by the Third District Court of Appeal, Zupnik v. All Florida Paper, Inc., Case No. 3D08-1371 (Fla. 3d DCA, Dec. 31, 2008).