Robert Half, a well-known staffing company, had an unusually aggressive contract clause to restrict its departed employees. Specifically, paragraph 13 of Robert Half’s employment contract said:

"After termination of Employee’s employment with Employer, Employee shall not indicate on any stationary, business card, advertising, solicitation or other business materials that Employee is or was formerly an employee of Employer..."

The clause would prevent former temporary employees from listing the company on LinkedIn or similar websites. The purpose of the paragraph was to hinder former Robert Half employees from truthfully marketing their expertise. Indeed, Robert Half freely admitted it wanted to prevent former employees from “using RHI’s own name and brand to compete with RHI.”

Fortunately, a recent federal court decision rejected the overreaching contract clause. Robert Half sued its former employee for violating Paragraph 13, but the court dismissed the claims, finding that Paragraph violated California's laws on non-compete agreements.

Other states - including Texas - tend to be more tolerant of non-compete restrictions than California. We simply can't assume that a similar restriction would be unenforceable in Texas.

If you have concerns or questions about a non-compete agreement, please contact us or schedule an appointment today.