Fort Lauderdale Noncompete Agreement Lawyers

Experienced Employment Law Counsel in South Florida

While noncompete agreements serve an important purpose in preventing unfair competition, those with unduly restrictive terms can limit legitimate business and prevent employees from using their valuable experience to earn an honest living.

At The Amlong Firm, we offer extensive experience inemployment law and thus know how to protect professionals and other employees from noncompete agreements with illegal terms or unfair constraints. We also know when to tell you as a client that, under your contract, you cannot do what you want to do without risking substantial damages and attorney's fees.

We are ready to help you. Contact us today at (954) 953-5490 to schedule a consultation at our Fort Lauderdale law office.

Noncompete Agreements in Florida

Noncompete agreements are written contracts between employers and employees that may or may not be enforceable in the state of Florida, depending on the circumstances. These contracts are entered into to prevent current and former employees from competing against their employers when they leave to take on new positions, whether those positions involve working for a competitor or starting one’s own new enterprise in the same market. Such an agreement prevents such employees from recruiting workers to leave the company with them, from passing on trade or operational secrets, stealing client or customer lists, or passing on or using other information concerning their former employer’s company once they have moved on.

Noncompete agreements generally contain such details as:

• The date on which the agreement will go into effect
• The reason for the agreement
• Specific dates and locations where the employee will be prohibited from competing
• The compensation the employee will receive for agreeing to the terms and conditions of the agreement

Noncompete agreements are vital tools used to protect employers' trade secrets, intellectual property, and customer data but a difference exists between effective agreement and an unenforceable intrusion into individual rights.

Florida Law Regarding Noncompete Agreements

Section 542.335 of the Florida Statutes covers the enforceability of noncompete agreements in the state. Under this law, the primary standard for whether or not such an agreement can be enforced is its “reasonableness.” The basic requirement to meet enforceability is a reasonable necessity for protecting the business interest of the company trying to enforce it. In general, time restrictions of up to two years and locations where the company actually conducts business may be considered reasonable by Florida courts. However, the enforceability of any agreement is decided on a case-by-case basis reviewing the individual facts and circumstances.