What is a non-solicitation agreement?

When New York residents are about to begin a new job, they are often presented with a number of forms and contracts that they are supposed to sign. These documents can hold certain sections that may go unnoticed by the employee at the time of signing. Unfortunately, provisions in these forms can come back to haunt employees when they least expect it. Many times restrictive covenants are the most common.

The most common restrictive covenants are of three types: non-competition, non-disclosure, and non-solicitation. These types of covenants are most common in sales, public relations and marketing jobs, but are found in other types of jobs as well.

In order to ensure that you are complying with your contract and not violating any of these provisions, it is important to understand what these terms mean. When you sign a non-solicitation agreement, you are agreeing to refrain from direct or indirectly enticing or soliciting any employee from leaving their current employment with that company. The thinking behind these agreements is that if one employee leaves a job, it causes enough of a problem for employers, but if that employee tries to take other employees with them, it creates an even bigger issue for companies.

It is also essential to understand what types of solicitation your employer is covering in the agreement. Some employers enforce agreements that prohibit employees from informing co-workers that they might get a better salary or benefits in another job.

The decision to leave a job is a big one. However, if you have left your job or are planning to leave it and want to make sure your actions while leaving do not violate any contractual provisions and leave you open for a lawsuit, then it may be in your best interest to speak to an individual experienced in employment law.

Source: Maximize Social Business, “Social media in the workplace: 6 tips regarding non-solicitation agreements,” James Wu, May 9, 2013