Restraints of Trade and Protecting Confidential Information

Many contracts of employment, particularly those involving senior executives, contain a clause to restrict the activities of the employee after the employment contract ends. A contract of employment may also contain a provision that prohibits the use or disclosure by a former employee of the former employer’s confidential information during the course of employment with future employers.

 

Hair&Beauty HRS helps clients protect their businesses using confidentiality and restraint of trade clauses in employment agreements, retention tools and structured exit arrangements. Our clients seek our assistance to ensure that such clauses and arrangements are appropriate, effective and compliant with the law.

 

We also assist our clients to enforce these arrangements where there is a breach or potential breach of employee obligations and to determine their ability to hire or work with potential new recruits who are subject to such obligations to third parties.

 

Restraint of Trade clauses and Confidentiality clauses are commonly found in employment agreements. Together, these clauses play an important role in protecting an employer’s business interests, both during the working relationship and after it has ended. At Hair&Beauty HRS, we can provide advice at the start of the employment relationship on how to include these tools in an employment contract – to clearly define your expectations of the employee – as well as how best to ensure the clauses are adhered to.

 

Once the employment relationship has ended, Hair&Beauty HRS can also provide:

• advice on drafting, application and enforcement of restraints on post-employment competition or solicitation of customers, suppliers or employees and protection of intellectual property and confidential information.

• practical advice on whether or not to enforce restraints against former employee

• practical advice on whether a former employer’s restraints on an employee can be enforced

• risk management advice on responding to threats or disputes, or commencing, or not commencing, litigation