electricguy
Senior Member
- Location
- British Columbia Canada
I am trying to find a suitable non compete clause (NCC) for my employee to sign.
Non Compete Clause for Employees
- Thread starter electricguy
- Start date
- Status
There is no standard non compete clause, they will differ from country to country, and from state to state, this is one contract where you will need a lawyer to draft all the conditions, so they will meet both the current laws, and meet your goals.
brian john
Senior Member
- Location
- Leesburg, VA
Why?......................
krisinjersey
Senior Member
- Location
- Hackettstown, New Jersey
Good Luck
Good Luck
I had to sign one at my last company and it was a joke. The problem is they don't hold up because most judges are going to tell you you can't impeed someone from finding employment and if a customer goes to the former employee for work, they aren't stealing customers, you aren't doing a good job of keeping the customers. Good luck convicing an old customer to testify against their new electrician of choice.
My wife signed one with her old employer and then took almost her entire client list with her when she was terminated. Not only did she win the ensuing case, they had to pay for her court costs.
Best advice in this case is to stop making the lawyer rich and invest that money in keeping your customers happy, so they won't leave you. That and teach your employees the value of building the business together rather than foster a sense of continual internal competition where the ownership is the enemy.
Good Luck
I had to sign one at my last company and it was a joke. The problem is they don't hold up because most judges are going to tell you you can't impeed someone from finding employment and if a customer goes to the former employee for work, they aren't stealing customers, you aren't doing a good job of keeping the customers. Good luck convicing an old customer to testify against their new electrician of choice.
My wife signed one with her old employer and then took almost her entire client list with her when she was terminated. Not only did she win the ensuing case, they had to pay for her court costs.
Best advice in this case is to stop making the lawyer rich and invest that money in keeping your customers happy, so they won't leave you. That and teach your employees the value of building the business together rather than foster a sense of continual internal competition where the ownership is the enemy.
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
They are not enforceable in all states.
A company my X used to work for tried to get her on one. Even though she signed a statement the case was dismissed as NCC's were not allowed in the state of Michigan.
You should contact your state's attorney general's office to make sure what you are trying to do is enforceable in your state.
A company my X used to work for tried to get her on one. Even though she signed a statement the case was dismissed as NCC's were not allowed in the state of Michigan.
You should contact your state's attorney general's office to make sure what you are trying to do is enforceable in your state.
How can you have someone sign a non compete clause if they are an electrician?
You can't stop someone from working as an electrician for someone else. It is their livelihood and you cannot restrict it.
Like others have said, it is unenforceable in most states, but I don't know about Canada.
You can't stop someone from working as an electrician for someone else. It is their livelihood and you cannot restrict it.
Like others have said, it is unenforceable in most states, but I don't know about Canada.
Doug, the contract has to be designed for your business, the only ones I ever seen hold up were the ones drafted by an attorney, one of my neighbors left her job as a hair dresser and opened her own shop, she ran the shop for 2 years and after receiving many notices, she ignored them and finally hired an attorney, when the case finally went to court, she has to pay all the money earned over those years, and close her shop, the outcome was if she just left her employer and found other work it would of been fine, but since she went into business and contacted her previous employers customers, the intent was established to violate the contract she signed, that is why it is a must to have an attorney involved.
electricguy
Senior Member
- Location
- British Columbia Canada
Things have been slow for my direct to home tv satellite installs but the materials and time seem high for what we have completed .Its just I know customers can ask for extras if they pay the installer cash,I guess i will just eat the losses but soon this will kill me and i mean really soon oh well
electricguy
Senior Member
- Location
- British Columbia Canada
Thanks for the input 
mkgrady
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
The Non Compete Clause of an employment contract must offer something in exchange for an agreement not to compete in the future for a predetermined duration. In other words you can't make the NCC stick if you are hiring an at will employee. You must be providing the employee with something more. For instance you could agree that the employee will have a job for a set duration and can only be let go for cause.
flatlander
Senior Member
- Location
- Diamond bar, CA , Tempe AZ
The must be some common law regarding an employee soliciting work from the owners customer while on the job.
mkgrady
Senior Member
- Location
- Massachusetts
I'd call that stealing if they are on the clock. If an employee is soliciting an employers customers after hours I'd guess that is legal.
not to compete
not to compete
i am quite sure the "not to compete clause" is nothing more than a scare tactic by employers in the hopes that the employee actually believes it...in fact some of the guys who have worked here longer than me say we have a policy that says they could be fired if they get caught "moonlighting" for an existing customer...my former boss may have said that at some point but i think firing some guy for fixing a 3way on his own time may lead to a good lawsuit against me...
not to compete
i am quite sure the "not to compete clause" is nothing more than a scare tactic by employers in the hopes that the employee actually believes it...in fact some of the guys who have worked here longer than me say we have a policy that says they could be fired if they get caught "moonlighting" for an existing customer...my former boss may have said that at some point but i think firing some guy for fixing a 3way on his own time may lead to a good lawsuit against me...
krisinjersey
Senior Member
- Location
- Hackettstown, New Jersey
Different Problem
Different Problem
That's a different issue that a non-compete contract won't fix. If guys are selling extras for cash, you need to regulate material disbursements. If extras aren't hardware based, then come up with an hour allotment per job.
At the begining of EVERY job our mechanics are told the amount of manhours estimated to finish the job on all contract work. If they come in even, fine they did their job and get their check and everyone is happy. If they come in under we add up the amount of hours under and divide up a pool amongst the hours under. We're making more so they can get a bonus out of our share of the extra. It's only fair since they did the job and brought it in under. Any job that's WAY under tells you you aren't estimating correctly as well. If a job goes over, the employee either loses those hours out of his portion of the bonus or if he doesn't have hours in the bonus pool it counts against his review negatively. All this will help you track your jobs in a tight market and get your guys involved in the process. The prspect of a bonus has to be better than the money made selling extras for cash or this won't work though.
Different Problem
That's a different issue that a non-compete contract won't fix. If guys are selling extras for cash, you need to regulate material disbursements. If extras aren't hardware based, then come up with an hour allotment per job.
At the begining of EVERY job our mechanics are told the amount of manhours estimated to finish the job on all contract work. If they come in even, fine they did their job and get their check and everyone is happy. If they come in under we add up the amount of hours under and divide up a pool amongst the hours under. We're making more so they can get a bonus out of our share of the extra. It's only fair since they did the job and brought it in under. Any job that's WAY under tells you you aren't estimating correctly as well. If a job goes over, the employee either loses those hours out of his portion of the bonus or if he doesn't have hours in the bonus pool it counts against his review negatively. All this will help you track your jobs in a tight market and get your guys involved in the process. The prspect of a bonus has to be better than the money made selling extras for cash or this won't work though.
- Location
- Massachusetts
The only 'non-compete' contract I signed was for a period of two years and the return was I was guaranteed at least 40 hrs of my pay per week for that entire two years even if they had no job to place me on. Of course if they went out of business my pay would have stopped but so would my non-compete agreement.
It worked out fine for me but I would never sign one without some benefit to myself.
brian john
Senior Member
- Location
- Leesburg, VA
In Virginia I had a lawyer tell me the shorter the period the better 6-12 months. Also with trades it was a bit different, you could work but were not allowed to contact old customers but they could contact you.
I do not believe you can steal customers if you are a legit business, and do everything on the up and up. NOT solicit customer while still working for your old employer or bad mouth the old employer after you leave.
One issue the lawyer did bring up is in court you would have to have customers to back up your claims and most customers will really not care for this.
Treat your customers right, pay your employees well and keep everybody happy.
I do not believe you can steal customers if you are a legit business, and do everything on the up and up. NOT solicit customer while still working for your old employer or bad mouth the old employer after you leave.
One issue the lawyer did bring up is in court you would have to have customers to back up your claims and most customers will really not care for this.
Treat your customers right, pay your employees well and keep everybody happy.
qcroanoke
Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
- Location
- Roanoke, VA.
- Occupation
- Sorta retired........
Brian John Hit it on the head.
Rewire
Senior Member
- Location
- Lake of the Ozarks
My wife did consulting and a non compete clause was usual\lly in the contract it also delt more with intelectual property.I don't mind an employee going in to business I just don't want them using my proprietary information to do so.
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
That's usualy where they apply a non compete clause is for information. Last place I worked they fired the CEO, bought out his contract for several million dollars and he had to sign saying that he would not work in the computer printer industry for five years.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
No compete clauses are hard to enforce, we had so many vice presidents quit and start their own companies, the CEO started having them sign no compete clauses in their contracts. One got around it by having the company in his wifes name. She could contact and recruit our employees because the contract only prohibited him from contacting them.
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