It can take a lot of blood, sweat and tears to build your business. That is why it is important to protect what you have built by including restraint terms in the employment contracts of your staff. These are important tools to protect your business from current or former employees.
After leaving their employment with you staff can be prevented from:
- working with competitors within a certain area for a set period of time
- contacting your clients or staff in an attempt to have them move from your business to that of the former employee.
If a former employee breaches their restraint to your great detriment and your attempts to stop them have been to no avail then you may apply to a Court for an injunction forbidding any further breaches.
In considering these applications the Court will seek to balance the interests of your business against the employee's right to ongoing employment in their field of expertise. Various pieces of legislation and complex factors are considered and many restraints that are not professionally drafted are found to be unenforceable.
This delicate balancing act makes the effective drafting of restraints very important. A lawyer will be able to draft cascading restraints, with various levels of restraints that start off very broad (with maximum protection for your business) and gradually narrow down. The Court will then select and enforce the restraint which it considers to be the most reasonable, giving you greater certainty of enforcement and protection for your business.
If you would like to learn more about how to protect your business, contact our office on 13 Kells.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
