Welcome to our briefing for HR teams and in-house employment counsel – bringing you this month’s employment law highlights in an easy-to-read package.
In this edition we're going to focus on three recent cases looking at different aspects of post-termination restrictions, or PTRs. PTRs are typically grouped into non-competes (that prevent working for a competitor), non-solicits (that prevent active targeting of former clients or customers), non-deals (that prevent dealing with a former client or customer whether targeted or not), and non-poaches (that prevent targeting former colleagues). As readers will no doubt already know, all PTRs need to be viewed through the lens of the restraint of trade doctrine, a long-standing common law rule that prohibits any restriction on a person's ability to ply their trade unless the restriction is reasonable to protect a legitimate business interest. The interests the courts usually accept are protecting confidential information and protecting the investment made in clients and employees.
The first case we're going to look at turns on a short but important piece of legislation: s.6(3) of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. English common law has always recognised that only the parties to a contract can enforce its terms, save for some very exceptional circumstances. The Act changed the common law position, so that third parties who were clearly identified in a contract, or granted benefits...
EXCLUSIVE: The White House and Department of Homeland Security are pushing back on "false narratives" being advanced by the mainstream media and bringing the receipts after the Washington Post and ...