Most competent employment lawyers with experience pursuing and/or rebuffing enforcement of noncompetition agreements know that enforcement against low level workers is highly unlikely.  If recent news reports are true, Jimmy John’s apparently never got that memo.

According to reports in The New York Times, The Oregonian and the Huffington Post, the restaurant franchise is requiring all workers, including sandwich makers, to sign broad noncompetition agreements that restrict their employment opportunities for two years after leaving their cushy, highly technical jobs at Jimmy John’s.

Let’s start with the understanding that courts don’t like noncompetition restrictions, which limit a worker’s ability to pursue his career as he sees fit.  Courts use a variety of tools to limit the enforcement of those clauses.  Although courts use different terms to describe it, almost every decision analyzing enforcement of a noncompetition agreement talks about whether the former employer has a “protectible interest.”  In layman terms that means, is there something legitimate that the former employer actually needs to protect by restricting the post-termination employment opportunities of its former employees?  Customer relationships, knowledge of the company’s confidential or trade secret information, or specialized training provided by the former employer are often found to be sufficient “protectible interests” to justify enforcement of a contract clause which limits the worker’s future employment opportunities.  If there is no “protectible interest,” a court won’t enforce the agreement.Continue Reading “Freaky Fast” Oppression? Jimmy John’s Should Reconsider its Approach to Blanket Noncompete Agreements