Answers Posted By Archibald Thomas

Answer to How long can a non-compete clause be enforced in the state of Florida?

Florida law presumes that 3 years or less is reasonable in your situation and that 7 years or more is unreasonable. Anything between these two periods would be reviewed by the courts on a cases by case basis to determine what is appropriate. the judge has a lot of discretion between 3 and 7 years. It is certainly possible that many judges would not go beyond 5 years, but it would depend on the judge's view of the various issues relating to the purchaser's claim that it has a legitimate business interest in enforceing the agreement beyond the five year perid.

Archibald J. Thomas, III
Board Certified Labor & Employment Lawyer
Law Offices of Archibald J. Thomas, III, P.A.
4651 Salisbury Road, Suite 255
Jacksonville, Fl 32256
archibald@job-rights.com
www.job-rights.com
904-396-2322

posted May 7, 2010 07:51 AM [EST]

Answer to I need to get out of my Non compete contract to change jobs before the bottom falls out where I'm at

A non-compete agreement may not be enforcable if the employer cannot show a legitimate business interest. These issues can be very complex. The starting point is to consult with a lawyer familiar with non-compete agreements in Florida. He or she should be able to give you some idea of whether there is a possibility that a court would invalidate your agreement. Armed with this information you should consider negotiating an agreement with your employer designed to avaiod litigation and clarify your rights and obligations.

posted Jan 31, 2010 7:31 PM [EST]

Answer to I recieve 24 pto days a year. When I need fmla is the comapny allowed to take from that bank?

Yes, the company may require you to take any unused vacation, sick, or PTO leave you have available.

posted Jan 31, 2010 7:23 PM [EST]

Answer to Resigned and was terminated on spot

The receipt of PTO should have no effect on your entitlement to unemployment. If you are terminated, you may be entitled to unemployment at least for the 8 week period unless your employer pay you wages in lieu of notice. However, I have not seen any cases discussing this issue and am not sure if the unemployment office will agree with my view on this.

posted Jan 31, 2010 7:22 PM [EST]

Answer to Is this covenant not to compete considered unreasonable?

If your agreement only prohibits solicitation of your former employer's patients, you may be okay if they came to you in the absence of any solicitation, but the language you quoted indicates a broader prohibition than just non-solicitation. This can be problematic for you and may prevent you from performing any services for the one year period.

posted Jan 31, 2010 7:16 PM [EST]

Answer to Do I have alternatives for relocation agreement payback and payback amount?

Assuming your former employer lived up to its end of the bargain, your best bet is probably to try to negotiate a repayment plan that gives you credit on a pro rata basis for the year and allows you to repay in installments. It probably wouldn't hurt to have a lawyer look over the agreement to see if there are any other issues.

posted Jan 31, 2010 7:08 PM [EST]

Answer to Forced/ Rushed Non-compete under threat of termination.

Non-compete agreement

There is no minimum time required under Florida law to consider a non-compete agreement. Assuming you are an at will employee, your employer may terminate you for refusing to sign, and you would have no legal recourse except for the possiblilty of an unemployment compensation claim.

posted Jul 1, 2009 2:08 PM [EST]

Answer to company defaulted on severance agreement

Severance Pay

They do indeed have a legal obligatin to pay assuming you gave them a release of liability or something else of value as part of the severance agreement. However, if the company goes into bankruptcy, you may have some difficulty collecting on the debt depending on the company's assets and liabilitites. Assuming bankruptcy is not in the picture, you could take court actioin to collect the money owed and if you prevail, the court could award you attorneys fees and court costs as well.

posted Jun 9, 2009 6:21 PM [EST]

Answer to Denied promotion due to pregnancy?

Pregnancy Discrimination

It sounds like you have pretty good case of discrimination based on pregnancy assuming you can establish that the reason given for the denial of tenure is false. If this is a state institution, you may either have access to the success rates of other professors or you may be able to obtain this information pursuant to the public records law. This would be a big help to you in pursuing your claim. As you may know, in order to pursue a claim of discrimination against an employer due to pregnancy, you would need to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and/or the Florida Commissioin on Human Relations before you would be permitted to file suit in court.

posted Apr 7, 2009 4:21 PM [EST]

Answer to giving out malice information

bad references

You can try to contact a company that specializes in checking references such as www.badreferences.com and obtain a report regarding the information that is being provided. Armed with this information you can then determine what steps to take.

posted Mar 28, 2009 9:30 PM [EST]