staffing non-compete
I am a staffing professional in AZ. My former employer (which I worked at for 3 years was bought out by another organization. The new employer came in and did base salary cuts across the board for all sales people. Mine was cut by $14K, and the commission plan was changed as well. For that reason, I left the organization. My non-compete was with the company that was bought out and I did not sign a new one with the new organization. Does this qualify as breach of contract from the employer since compensation was a section of the agreement which I signed?
1 answer | asked Apr 13, 2003 6:46 PM [EST] | applies to Arizona
Answers (1)
Non-compete is not an employment agreement
This answer is based upon general principles and is not specific to your situation, because I cannot advise you regarding your individual case without reviewing the agreement in question.
As a general rule, a non-compete agreement is written to stand alone as a contract separate and apart from an employment agreement. Although the agreement may recite that a pay increase is the consideration for signing the agreement, if your employment relationship is terminable at will, a promise of a pay increase is not the equivalent of a guarantee of continued employment for any particular period of time. For this reason, it would be difficult to argue that a subsequent pay reduction breaches the non-compete agreement, although it probably excuses you from any further obligation to honor the agreement. I would need to review the actual language of the agreement to see if these general comments follow from the actual terms of this particular agreement.
posted by Francis Fanning | Apr 14, 2003 4:58 PM [EST]
This answer is based upon general principles and is not specific to your situation, because I cannot advise you regarding your individual case without reviewing the agreement in question.
As a general rule, a non-compete agreement is written to stand alone as a contract separate and apart from an employment agreement. Although the agreement may recite that a pay increase is the consideration for signing the agreement, if your employment relationship is terminable at will, a promise of a pay increase is not the equivalent of a guarantee of continued employment for any particular period of time. For this reason, it would be difficult to argue that a subsequent pay reduction breaches the non-compete agreement, although it probably excuses you from any further obligation to honor the agreement. I would need to review the actual language of the agreement to see if these general comments follow from the actual terms of this particular agreement.
posted by Francis Fanning | Apr 14, 2003 4:58 PM [EST]
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