Re:How a Legal Journalist Got Fired for a Non-Compete
by kodablah on Monday February 08, 2016 @01:41PM
(#11060002)
> and taking half the clients with them
I think there is a big difference here between non-compete and no-poaching agreements. At least yours is tailored to a radius, but I don't know that your narrow definition of non-compete is really the same.
Re:How a Legal Journalist Got Fired for a Non-Compete
by ghaff on Monday February 08, 2016 @03:46PM
(#11060777)
In principle, I agree with you. However, in practice, a lot of what drives non-competes is concerns about poaching. I don't know if non-competes are particularly prevalent in service industries but I'm probably most aware of examples from consulting. I'm not going to defend non-competes but I suspect one of the reasons that they exist is that poaching clients and use of inside knowledge from a former employer are difficult to prove if they're not blatant whereas working for a competitor is pretty straightforward.
Re:How a Legal Journalist Got Fired for a Non-Compete
by borvo on Monday February 08, 2016 @03:25PM
(#11060645)
Surely you provide your customers something more than just a building with some trainers in it? I'd focus on that, rather than silly contract games.
Re:How a Legal Journalist Got Fired for a Non-Compete
by pc86 on Tuesday February 09, 2016 @08:45AM
(#11065172)
"Silly contract games" are still important to protecting the business. And it's not only about our bottom line. We have three full-time trainers and few part-timers. If one took a big chunk of our clientele, we're suddenly laying people off with no notice just to keep the lights on.
As a consultant/freelancer/employee you have the luxury of just worrying about what's best for you and that's it. As an employer, it's in my best interest to protect the business, otherwise people could be out on the street. If we mess something up with a contract or fail or do some "silly" thing correct it can literally ruin someone else's life through no fault of their own.
Re:How a Legal Journalist Got Fired for a Non-Compete
by FussyZeus on Tuesday February 09, 2016 @09:10AM
(#11065318)
That one seems far more fair to me though, just because you're limiting it to a certain distance around your particular shop (and I know gyms are super competitive so the protection measures make sense).
It's not like you're saying you can't get a job or own a gym anywhere on the planet for one year after your resignation or something to that effect.
My wife and I own a gym (in addition to our full-time jobs) that has several salaried trainers on staff. They sign a non-compete that for 1 year from the date of termination, they cannot take a trainer job at any gym within a 5 mile radius from our location, and they cannot own more than 20% of any gym located within a 10 mile radius.
This prevents them from opening up shop across the street and taking half the clients with them. It prevents them from doing the same with a nearby competitor.
It is limited by time, has a specific geographic area, and is only for a specific job. They can do whatever they want beyond a 10 mile radius on day 1, or they can open up a gym on day 366 anywhere in the world.
We've never had to litigate it because it's never come up, and if someone wasn't happy and really wanted to get a job at a Gold's two miles down the road, we would probably let them provided they didn't spend their last week giving our clients their new business cards or something.