Like the courts in many other jurisdictions, New York's courts have made clear their disfavor for non-compete agreements, noting that they inherently impinge on a person's ability to change jobs, perhaps to earn more money, and remain in their chosen field.
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Related Video: When an Employee Will Be Considered "Unique" for Purposes of a Non-Compete |
Unlike some other jurisdictions, such as California, there are some limited circumstances and individuals against whom New York's courts will enforce a non-compete.
Typically, those circumstances are limited to key employees that are "unique."
Why New York's Courts Won't Enforce a Non-Compete Against Non-Unique Employees
In truth, New York's courts, for the reason set forth above, only grudgingly allowed non-competes to be enforced at all. But, they acnkowledged, there are some instances where an employer has a legitimate interest in keeping an employee from leaving to go work for an arch-competitor. And that, i.e., the employer's legitimate interest, is the primary underlying factor in determining the enforceability of these kinds of agreements.
As a result, when an employee is truly irreplaceable, and was paid a premium to retain the company's truly confidential, proprietary information secret, there is a fair chance that a New York court will uphold his non-compete.
Conversely, this also means that a New York court should, more often than not, decline to enforce the non-compete against a non-unique employee.