
Non-competition agreements are enforceable in Ohio, provided they are “reasonable.” The Ohio Supreme Court has held that non-competition agreements are reasonable (and thus, enforceable) in Ohio, if the employer can show that:ġ) the restrictions are no greater than necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate business interests Ģ) they do not impose an undue hardship on the employee andģ) the restrictions would not injure the public. Q: Are non-competes and NDAs enforceable in Ohio?Ī: NDAs are generally enforceable in Ohio, provided the confidential information to be protected is properly defined and constitutes the employer’s proprietary information. Q: What is the purpose of a non-disclosure agreement?Ī: A non-disclosure agreement (also referred to as a confidentiality agreement) between an employer and an employee prohibits the employee from disclosing any of the employer’s proprietary information, business processes, intellectual property, or knowledge assets. The language of a non-compete is usually contained within the employment contract. A non-compete typically restricts an employee from working for a competitor for the length of time and within the geographic area mentioned in the contract.

In an employer-employee context, this refers to an employee being the recipient of the prohibition on competition and an employer being the protected party, who is using the non-compete agreement to protect her specific business within a specified geographic area for a specified length of time. Q: What is the purpose of a non-compete agreement?Ī: A non-compete is an agreement in which one party agrees not to compete against the other party. Listed below are seven common questions people ask about these agreements. It is important to understand the differences between these two documents and how they are enforced. There are many reasons you might decide to require your employees to sign either an NDA or a non-compete. These agreements will respect your right to keep proprietary information protected, and respect an employee’s decision to take his or her career in a different direction.Ĭommon NDA and non-compete agreement questions Poorly drafted or unreasonable agreements probably will be deemed unenforceable, but a well-crafted NDA or non-compete should not be.

The truth is, non-compete agreements and non-disclosure agreements are valuable tools for business owners-not because they force people to stay with you, but because they offer legal protection over the work that makes your company different and special. The piece claims employers have come to assert ownership over their employees’ work experience as well as their work, and that noncompete agreements in particular can keep employees “stuck” at a company, because the employees fear they won’t be able to get another job.
#INVISIBLE CONTRACTS AND HIW TO VOID PROFESSIONAL#
A recent story in the New York Times argued these documents can “take a person’s greatest professional assets-years of hard work and earned skills-and turn them into a liability” for employees. Lately, NDAs and non-competes have been getting a bit of a bad reputation. These documents are designed to protect proprietary information and the company itself if an employee were to leave the company to work for a competitor. Both documents, however, are restrictive covenants that limit what an employee can say or do, and (often) where they can and cannot work. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and non-compete agreements, also called a non-competition agreement or covenant not to compete, have distinct purposes.
