Recently, Jennifer Cerven wrote on Currents about a new Illinois law that prohibits noncompete agreements for low wage workers, i.e. those making less than $13/hour. There has been heightened dialogue about such restrictions since the publicity surrounding the Jimmy John’s noncompete requirement for some of its sandwich makers. I have suggested here before that most courts I know would be discinlined to enforce a noncompete with such an employee anyway, though as one parent of a summer camp counselor appropriately pointed out to me after that post, such noncompetes can still have a chilling effect on job mobility. So, we seem to be in a period where this issue is receiving greater legislative attention. As noted numerous times here before, state laws vary with respect to noncompetes on two critical issues:
- If a court finds a noncompete to be overly broad, will it rewrite it, “blue pencil” it, or just throw it out?
- What consideration is required in a particular state in order to support a noncompete? For example, will a noncompete signed by a long-term employee who receives nothing of value other than the right to come to work the next day be enforceable?