My employer wants me to sign a non-compete agreement. Is my employers legally obligated to give me a valuable consideration if i sign the agreenment?
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My employer wants me to sign a non-compete agreement. Is my employers legally obligated to give me a valuable consideration if i sign the agreenment?
Mikethompson88gmail.com
Any advice would be great on the
matter.
Asked on July 26, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, North Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Yes, but the valuable consideration is your continued employment--i.e. not terminating you. Unless you have a written employment contract guarantying your employment, you are an employee at will; an employee at will may be terminated at any time, for any reason; therefore, you have no "right" to continued employment; that means that continuing to employ you--something they are not obligated to do--itself constitutes valuable consideration in the law's eyes, and they don't need to give you anything else.
However, if they don't give you anything else, then if you are terminated by them later, the non-compete will not apply, since at that point, they failed to give you consideration (employment) for your promise to not complete; you'd be free to complete, and the non-compete would effectively only bar you from voluntarily leaving (quiting; resigning) for another job. If they give you additional consideration beyond employment, that extra consideration would bind you even if you were terminated.
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