Legal Analysis Paper

Legal Analysis Paper 2

Under what circumstances will courts enforce a noncompetition agreement in an employment contract? What competing policy interests are at stake, and how are they resolved by these requirements? Your response should not exceed 250 words.

NOTE: To fully respond to Legal Analysis Paper 2 you will need to conduct outside research. Accordingly, you must cite all relevant sources and make clear the extent to which outside sources were used. Words or ideas that require citation include, but are not limited to, all hard copy or electronic publications. Full blown citations aren’t necessary, but must contain sufficient information to identify the source, the author(s) and the date. If you’re using the text as a source it is okay to cite a page number.

According to a passage from an article posted by OMW Law, typically Washington courts would enforce a non-compete agreement if it meets the conditions in a three part test. The first requires that the restraint be necessary to protect the business in question. The second requires the restraint be of reasonable measure as to not cause damages. Lastly the public cannot be harmed by losing the service or the skills of the employee in question. (Sutherland) Essentially the clauses are set to ensure that no unreasonable restraints are placed on an employee and no one side of the two parties involved in the agreement are in fact taking advantage of the other. If these three parts/requirements are not met the court would likely refuse to enforce the non-competition agreement.

The main reason this has become such a controversial subject for business law is that the will of the government and the court system is to encourage competition not to squash it. A non-compete agreement can be seen as a way to protect one’s business from losing its monopoly. However the three parts mentioned above that the courts often use to resolve these types of litigations are sufficient measure to ensure competition thrives...