Another strike against non-compete clauses, this time from Georgia. AmSpec sued four ex-employees for violating their employment agreements once they went to work for competing company Camin. Interestingly, AmSpec did not allege that Camin received or used confidential information.
The court found that the employment agreements were drafted too broadly, and would prevent employment in any capacity at a competing company (Defendants argued it would even prevent employment as a secretary or janitor). The Georgia Restrictive Covenant Act says that non-competition clauses are enforceable, but only “so long as the restrictions are reasonable in time, geographic area, and scope of prohibited activities”.
The clause in the employment agreement was unreasonable as written, and therefore is unenforceable.
A trade secret misappropriation complaint, if AmSpec had good evidence/contracts/basis, would have been interesting.
