If a non-compete isn’t totally filled out is it valid?
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If a non-compete isn’t totally filled out is it valid?
The non-compete that’s in my work folder doesn’t specify location or miles and is only signed by me.
It was also signed after hire.
Asked on May 15, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Minnesota
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
Signing after hire is irrelevant: non-competes are often signed after hiring and are fully enforceable even so; there is no requirement they be signed pre-hiring.
IF (assuming it went to litigation) a court could determine what the parties' (yours and the employer's) likely intent or the scope of the contract was intended to be, a court could enforce it. A court could look to testimony from the parties (you and the hiring or HR manager, for example) as to what they discussed about the non-compete, or any correspondence (e.g. texts, emails, etc.) about it. If the parties' intention as to the geographic scope, etc. could be reasonably determined by a court, a court could still enforce it. If the intended scope cannot be reasonably determined, however, a court will not and cannot enforce it.
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