# Non competition clause anyone use them?



## fireemt799 (May 23, 2010)

Im looking to put in a non competition clause in my employment contract for my government contract if awarded. I was wondering if anyone uses them and what they put in and the length after employment that it remains in effect on yours. Im looking to protect myself since the employee has to see the treatment plan and quality control plan and understand it and dont want them taking off with my ideas and starting their own company or helping out someone else. I chose this route because i had a guy that started loading wood for me then i taught him how to cut and bought him a saw then he takes off and starts cutting wood himself trying to sell to my customers. any ideas or examples would be greatly appreciated


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## ropensaddle (May 23, 2010)

Lol you gotta have that look, lazy eye a twichin, then the speech; sorta like when the kid wants to date your daughter:Eye:


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## lxt (May 23, 2010)

Good luck with it, BUT.....the problem is if an employee is gonna jam you a no compete clause wont do anything as that person willjust put the biz in anothers name & whala...he`s not competing against you.

as far as an employee non compete clause pertaining to working for another company doing the same work as you....this im not sure about & dont know if you could even enforce it????

just treat your help right & you`ll have no worries!!!


LXT................


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## BlueRidgeMark (May 23, 2010)

lxt said:


> Good luck with it, BUT.....the problem is if an employee is gonna jam you a no compete clause wont do anything as that person willjust put the biz in anothers name & whala...he`s not competing against you.





Getting legal advice from a bunch of tree cutters makes as much sense as getting tree felling advice from a lawyer.


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## treemandan (May 23, 2010)

I worked at this one place, they gave me a mountain of papers to sign, I kept telling them " tommorow" then I quit. A no-compete is a legally binding document and ain't nobody gonna bind me in that respect ever.


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## Rookie1 (May 23, 2010)

Im a mechanic and there is a truckshop in town here that uses one of those. Everybody who has been around for a while knows that guy is a giant AHOLE. Id scrub commodes before Id work for him. :greenchainsaw:


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## ropensaddle (May 23, 2010)

treemandan said:


> I worked at this one place, they gave me a mountain of papers to sign, I kept telling them " tommorow" then I quit. A no-compete is a legally binding document and ain't nobody gonna bind me in that respect ever.



Now Dan


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## treemandan (May 23, 2010)

ropensaddle said:


> Now Dan



What?


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## ropensaddle (May 23, 2010)

treemandan said:


> What?



Lol ever, come on if you were needing work, you would sign it lol. Well especially if it was out of your area!


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## treemandan (May 24, 2010)

ropensaddle said:


> Lol ever, come on if you were needing work, you would sign it lol. Well especially if it was out of your area!



Ok, sure, BUT NOT FOR NO MOM AND POP TREE SERVICE.

I am pretty sure my wife signed one for the large corperation she is employeed with. But there is no way she could ever even begin to compete anyway. Not many could. In all actually she has signed papers that swear her to secrecy.
Something like this no- compete isn't for anything but corparations where real secrets can be stolen. I dam near fell out the chair at the interview when they gave me that paper to sign.
Some might say " well I taught the guy how to do tree work and now he has started his own business right next door" I guess that could suck. These bigger tree companies are what spawns pretty much about half of the smaller. Right?
Me? I was born in a barn and pretty much stayed there so I just don't get into hanging around large corperations and signing the papers. My goal has always been to try to avoid signing my name as little as possible... though its not really working. Once I joined a Union BIG MISTAKE, well for me it was. For others not so. 
Just between you and me I am looking to join a large corp, in a totally different field than trees, and if a no- compete comes up I will probably not hesitate to sign it... but that's if they hire my bad attitude of course.

But you can see from the responses to this post how many of us smaller guys feel about it. I suppose the OP does have a valid point with his involved program of treatment but in layman's terms " you gotta have a lazy eye that twitches"


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## ropensaddle (May 24, 2010)

treemandan said:


> Ok, sure, BUT NOT FOR NO MOM AND POP TREE SERVICE.
> 
> I am pretty sure my wife signed one for the large corperation she is employeed with. But there is no way she could ever even begin to compete anyway. Not many could. In all actually she has signed papers that swear her to secrecy.
> Something like this no- compete isn't for anything but corparations where real secrets can be stolen. I dam near fell out the chair at the interview when they gave me that paper to sign.
> ...



yup a twichin eye and stories about buried trouble makers gets them thinking lol. Like the last guy that screwed me is buried under that mountain of brush then the twitch it works believe me lol.


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## fireemt799 (May 25, 2010)

thanks for the comments unfortunately being a government contract if i even remotely said anything like that id be sued for unfair labor practices intimidation and all of that stuff. The clauses in the contract they already have to sign including no smoking outside of a vehicle no contributing to political campaigns and so on. If they or me cut down a tree anywhere other than the project area until the project is over its trespassing even if its for personal use! Im just looking for a way to protect myself cause if i have any problems i will be banned from any future government contracts.


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## treemandan (May 25, 2010)

fireemt799 said:


> thanks for the comments unfortunately being a government contract if i even remotely said anything like that id be sued for unfair labor practices intimidation and all of that stuff. The clauses in the contract they already have to sign including no smoking outside of a vehicle no contributing to political campaigns and so on. If they or me cut down a tree anywhere other than the project area until the project is over its trespassing even if its for personal use! Im just looking for a way to protect myself cause if i have any problems i will be banned from any future government contracts.



oygavoltz!


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## BC WetCoast (May 27, 2010)

I'm not a lawyer, but would love to play one on TV if they paid me. However, from what I understand talking to lawyers, non-compete contracts you have employees sign that restrict their ability to get work should they leave your employ are very hard to enforce. 

You can have them sign a contract that restricts their ability to do side jobs, but the penalty is usually loss of employment. 

If you have an employment contract with someone, and have to negotiate a settlement as a part of termination, then a non-compete can be part of the negotiated settlement. However, it has to be reasonable. That is, you can't prevent someone from making a living forever.

So, to sum up, if you are hiring a labourer, who through his job gains some specialized knowledge and skills, I don't think you can have him sign an enforceable non-compete that would prevent him from working in this field should he leave your employ. In other words, I don't think your could enforce a contract that would make him either change fields or move to another city.

You need to consult a lawyer, but this is my understanding of how Canadian courts would act in this situation.


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## Elephanthead (Nov 29, 2010)

:agree2:

These agreements are not enforceable in this situation. In effect you are forcing your employees to work for you forever, or never get another job doing what they know how to do. If you don't want to train people, poach another companies workers away from them.


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