Generally, Texas allows non-compete agreements between employers and employees as long as they are reasonable in scope, geographic area, and term, and meet a few other requirements. See my previous posts about those requirements here, here, and here.
Practically speaking, however, whether a particular non-compete agreement is valid depends heavily on the exact language used in the agreement. Just as with any other contract, Texas courts will usually look at the precise language of a particular employment agreement to determine what the parties had in mind when they entered into it.
Last year, a hospitalist group in Houston learned the above principles the hard way when it attempted to enforce a non-compete covenant against a Physician who went to work for a competitor and discovered that the non-compete did not prohibit the physician from doing so.
In Tummalla et. al. v. Total Inpatient Services, P.A., the non-compete clause between the hospitalist group and the physician stated the following:
6.2 Non–Compete. In consideration for the access to the Confidential Information provided by [TIPS] and in order to enforce the Physician’s Agreement regarding such Confidential Information, Physician agrees that he/she shall not, during the term of this Agreement and for a period of one (1) year from the date this Agreement expires pursuant to Section 8.3 or is terminated by Physician pursuant to Section 8.6 (the “Restriction Period”), without the prior written consent of [TIPS], except in the performance of duties for [TIPS] pursuant to this Agreement, directly or indirectly within any Hospital in the Service Area or any other hospital in which the Physician practiced on behalf of [TIPS], in excess of 40 hours, within his last year of employment with [TIPS]:6.2.1 Provide services as a hospitalist physician to any entity that offers inpatient hospital and emergency department services.
The court of appeals analyzed these various clauses in the contract and concluded that because the physician terminated his employment with the hospitalist group within the first year, i.e. the “introductory period,” the post-employment non-compete clause did not apply to him. Thus, he was free to compete with his former employer.
TAKEAWAY FOR EMPLOYERS: Employers should have a qualified attorney draft and/or review their non-compete agreements. While there are many forms out there, because non-compete agreements in Texas have to be catered towards each employers’ business and because courts will scrutinize the language when determining whether to enforce the agreement or not, using a standard form may result in an employer not being able to enforce it due to gaps in the language or failure to address specific termination situations.
TAKEAWAY FOR EMPLOYEES: Signing a non-compete agreement without reading it first can result in a major headache down the road and severely limit employee’s career options. Therefore, employees should always: (1) read the agreement; (2) request a clarification if something is not clear; and (3) keep a copy of the signed agreement for their records.
This post first appeared on North Texas Legal News | Original Commentary On Te, please read the originial post: here
