Selective Enforcement of a Non-Compete Agreeement

[krazikimb]

i recently had to seek employment out of state due to a poor job market in the area i lived and due to a recent divorce. i needed to find employment in order to financially support myself. i interviewed with several companies and was offered a position with a company in the same industry. however i signed a no compete agreement but chose to take the position since the previous employer did not enforce the no compete with former employees who had also gone to work for the same company. my previous employer has found out that i am working for a competitor and is now threatening me with legal action. yet have not done so with other employees. can they hold me to this contract if they do not hold it to the other former employees?

[Mr. Knowitall]

The contract they seek to enforce is with you, not with any other employee. The fact, though, that they haven't been enforcing the contract even in relation to the same new employer may help you establish that the terms of the non-compete agreement are unreasonable.

[cranky]

What if the company sees krazikimb as more of a "threat" than
other employees who left to work for the same competitor?
Maybe your leaving for the same competitor was the final straw for your former employer, and they are really after them more than you.

What ever happened to free enterprise, it certainly applies to corporations, but not to the people that work hard for them.

Woe...I must be cranky ops: