Does anyone have experience with non-competes or cool- off periods?

Anonymous

January 10,2023 at 4:22PM UTC

Welcome to Fairygodboss!

We’re the largest online career community helping women achieve their career goals. Gain access to articles, jobs, events, and a supportive network of women and allies. Membership is free, always.

Does anyone have experience with non-competes or cool- off periods?

I recently left a job as a client delivery leader for an IT Services provider. Shortly after leaving (in August) a recruiter from a competitor reached out to me for a very similar job. I told them I wasn't really interested, but somehow ended up going through several rounds of interviews (I know, I need to do some soul searching) and ultimately got the job. It had been about 5 months since leaving my last company and I was starting to get concerned about never finding anything else, so I took it (again, I know I have some internal work to do). Now the new company wants me to be on a client account that I used to service for my old company, and it gave me a bad feeling. I just dug up my old employee agreement from my previous company and realized I had a non-compete clause in there for 2 years. Oops. Obviously, I should have looked at this before ever even talking to the recruiter, but this consulting side of the world is new to me and it honestly didn't occur to me. Now I'm not sure what to do. I'm sure I need to let my new company know what's up right away. And I am sure I need to reach out to my old company and see if there is any way around this, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice for me.

TL;DR

I started a new job in the same industry (with the same clients) as my previous job while still under a non-compete. Do I need to resign?

Why women love us:

Daily articles on career topics
Jobs at companies dedicated to hiring more women
Advice and support from an authentic community
Events that help you level up in your career
Free membership, always

9 comments

Share your insight

Join an authentic community that helps women support each other at work. Share your professional experience or ask for advice — you can even post anonymously.

9 Comments

Join the conversation

Barb HansenJanuary 11,2023 at 12:33AM UTC
TL:DR
Don't resign.
Longer explanation and what I would do in your situation.
I'm very familiar with non-competes. I'm not a lawyer or an HR professional. I'm a tech leader in startups and silly startups LOVE non-competes.
A 2 year non-compete is crazy long. How can a company expect you to not work in your industry? There are only so many IT service providers in your area and they expect you to not work for any of them for 2 years? That's silly and I think it's unenforceable.
Early in my career, I signed non-competes that expected me to not work for 2 years and I broke that non-compete because I needed to work, like all of us do.
I don't sign non-competes anymore but I will sign non-disclosure agreements where I promise to not share corporate secrets or IP.
I also never ask employees or contractors to sign non-competes. Why? because if a single employee can take my companies idea and start their own startup or take what I'm doing to a competitor, then I'm not building a defensive company. No one person should be able to bring down my startup. And people should be free to work for any other company they want after they leave my company.
Here is what I would do:
I would NOT contact my previous company.
-- Let sleeping dogs lie.
-- You're not hiding the fact that you are now working for a competitor (you've updated your LinkedIn profile so your previous company knows).
-- Every day that passes is another day that your previous company can't enforce that silly 2-year non-compete.
I would tell my current company that I don't feel comfortable working on client accounts that overlap with my previous company.
Good luck and stop worrying about that non-compete.
Again, I'm not a lawyer or a HR professionals, so if you are really worried, you could call an employment lawyer and ask a few questions related to your non-compete.
maryJanuary 13,2023 at 3:01PM UTC
Our non compete was 2 years as well
AnonymousJanuary 13,2023 at 3:00PM UTC
The company I worked for needed to have our legal department look at them and they would say they can’t do this. They can’t do that but they would still be hired and then the manager would discuss what would be a violation with the person before they sign on, and then we asked for a noncompete and return as well.
AnonymousJanuary 13,2023 at 4:35PM UTC
I was laid off and had to sign a 3-year non-compete to get my severance. It was that or hire a lawyer and only get accrued PTO (44 weeks vs. five weeks pay, so the decision was easy). I then chose a career pivot, so the non-compete was never an issue. Since there is a mutual client, which could pose a conflict of interest if the products compete with your former company, you need to let your management know. State laws differ on the enforceability of non-compete agreements, so researching your state's statutes and consulting an employment attorney may be necessary.
AnonymousJanuary 14,2023 at 2:58PM UTC
not happy to say this but our screening and application process clearly asked if you had a noncompete and at that point I needed to ask for a copy from the candidate and then it was reviewed by our legal department prior to hiring. if I remember correctly you’re supposed to let your new employer know you have a non compete.
Not sure I recommend you talk to HR just yet, as a company, we would still hire someone with a noncompete, but guarded things they could not deal with high priority, especially if it was working with the same clients they had work for in the past.
Mary PoolJanuary 15,2023 at 4:58PM UTC
Let sleeping dogs lie. First of all, your old company would need to know you are at the new company, doing the exact same job. Is it really the exact same job, or are there differences? Second, your old company would need to care enough to enforce the non-compete, which can be expensive. If you reach out to your old company, you are forcing the issue. If you inform your new company, you are forcing the issue (they may feel the need to act). Let it be. (Also, the FTC has proposed a new rule that would ban all non-compete agreements both in the future and retroactively. From what I have read, the new rule would apply to almost every industry.)
AnonymousJanuary 16,2023 at 2:19PM UTC
do you have any more information on the FTC proposal? I'm curious.
Coach Nancie Kay ShumanJanuary 18,2023 at 1:26PM UTC
You don't say what state you are in. In many, Non competes are not legally enforceable or recognized. Start there.
Liz MilneJanuary 22,2023 at 11:33PM UTC
Non-competes stop you from poaching your previous clients - by the sound of it, the new company already has a deal with the old client so I don't see why you couldn't just work the account without needing to mention anything to anyone?
If you're really worried about it go to your new company's legal expert with your non-compete agreement and ask them to check it over, see if there's anything you need to do about it?