While this is a positive decision for Oregon businesses, especially for companies for which customer lists are particularly important, employers should remain vigilant when it comes to proprietary information and review their policies and agreements on employee access and use of this information. This will also be problematic in cases where the sale, merger, reduction of violence, cleaning policy or simply a change of personnel have led to agreements destroyed, misdirected and otherwise difficult to find. Without providing a copy of the agreement, the employer will be under the new law, even without a redress mechanism at the end of the 30 days. If the answer to any of these questions is negative, your non-compete clause is unenforceable in Oregon. This does not mean that it is not possible to impose further restrictions on an outgoing staff member, including non-invitation and confidentiality conditions. Indeed, Oregon`s latest revision of its non-competition obligation had the effect of making non-invitation clauses of reasonable duration and reasonable geographic area more applicable. Because competition bans can sometimes unduly limit a worker`s chances of finding a new job, Oregon courts and legislators tend to scrutinize them when they are valid (and with great suspicion). In 2007, Oregon lawmakers passed a law (codified in Oregon Revised Statutes p. 653.295) that severely restricts the application of non-competition prohibitions. Under the new law, the applicability of non-competition clauses is based on four general questions: to determine whether your non-compete obligation is valid in Oregon, you are asking yourself four questions: This new post-termination requirement comes with several existing restrictions on non-compete clauses with Oregon employees in ORS 653.295. These restrictions include the need to inform the worker, as part of a written offer of employment that the worker receives at least two weeks before the first working day, that a competition incapacity agreement is required as a condition of employment.
In other words, from 2020, employers will have to worry about compliance with the obligation to notice and dismiss after employment, to ensure that competition contracts are not cancelled. What can be done? There may be serious and significant consequences for the reckless executive who signs a non-compete clause. If you are faced with a new job prospect and are asked to sign a non-compete clause, speak to a lawyer. Similarly, if you are considering quitting your job and have signed a non-compete clause, you can also consult the board. There are threshold requirements that an employer must meet in order to have an enforceable non-compete clause and, in the absence of an individual, non-competition obligations may be waived.