{"id":2288,"date":"2021-03-11T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2022-04-22T02:40:35","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T06:40:35","slug":"the-guide-on-how-to-defend-against-an-overbroad-non-compete-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/the-guide-on-how-to-defend-against-an-overbroad-non-compete-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guide on How to Defend Against an Overbroad Non-Compete in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”11px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Florida is one of the few states that recognize the enforceability of non-compete agreements<\/a> against employees and independent contractors. However, employers must be careful when drafting such type of contract, as non-competes need to meet specific legal standards to be considered valid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In practice, many employers try to force employees to sign overbroad non-competes. Unfortunately, some employers even attempt to threaten to enforce an illegitimate agreement, which affects the worker’s ability to find and maintain a new job.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Individuals who lost job opportunities due to a former employer threatening to enforce an overly broad non-compete<\/a> have legal options to protect themselves in the court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this article, we provide you a guide on how to defend against an overbroad non-compete in Florida.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In layman’s terms, a non-compete agreement is a resource utilized by an employer to prevent an employee to work for another business within the same industry for a limited period after leaving the company.<\/span><\/p>\n In Florida, many business owners use non-compete agreements as a manner to prevent former employees from using their knowledge and contacts for the benefit of competitors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although state laws may accept the legitimacy of non-compete agreements as a protective manner to safeguard the legitimate interests of a business, an overly broad non-compete is not enforceable.<\/span><\/p>\n As provided by Florida Statutes \u00a7 542.335, a non-compete agreement must protect a legitimate business interest to be enforceable, which includes:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Any non-compete agreement must be reasonable in its scope, length of time, and geographic restriction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, it is not uncanny to see employers using non-compete agreements as a way to overreach a legitimate business interest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In many cases, employers force low-level employees to sign a non-compete agreement, given that these workers do not even have access to any type of legitimate business interest that could be compromised.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Florida, courts tend to consider any non-compete agreement with a restrictive period exceeding 2 years as invalid. Generally, a reasonable restrictive period would be between 6 months to one year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In terms of geographic restriction, any non-compete cannot preclude an ex-employee from working in an area where the employer does not develop any business activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Also, any employer who abandoned a specific area cannot enforce a non-compete agreement against an ex-employee working in that area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In spite of that, even if you are sure that the non-compete agreement you signed with an ex-employer is not valid, you may still have to deal with constant threats and attempts to discourage other companies from hiring you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Firstly, if you have signed a non-compete agreement, notice that courts in Florida can prevent an employer from enforcing the terms of a non-compete agreement because he\/she engaged in unlawful activity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example:<\/span><\/p>\n A non-compete agreement that is not reasonable in terms of scope, the period of restriction, and geographic restriction cannot be enforced as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As each case is different, we strongly recommend you seek guidance from an expert attorney to assess your situation. A business attorney<\/a> will help you to find the best strategy to defend against an overly broad non-compete based on its specific terms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Florida, an ex-employee<\/a> is not allowed to threaten a former employee’s job prospect with an overly broad non-compete agreement. The constant threats and abusive behavior of an ex-employee trying to jeopardize an ex-employee job opportunity may constitute tortious interference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The term “tortious interference” refers to a type of common law tort in which a party can bring forth a claim for damages against another that has wrongfully interfered with a plaintiff’s business relationships<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Any employer who actively works to undermine an ex-employee’s job opportunities and partnerships can be held accountable for his\/her actions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Even though tortious interference is not considered a criminal act, the party responsible for committing the tort will have to pay damages to the plaintiff.<\/span><\/p>\n Defending against a non-compete agreement in Florida is certainly a complex and time-consuming process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At Jurado & Farshchian, P.L.<\/a>, we have seasoned attorneys that will help you to find the best strategy to defend against an overbroad non-compete.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Get in touch with Attorney Romy B. Jurado<\/a> today by calling (305) 921-0976<\/a>\u00a0or emailing Romy@juradolawfirm.com<\/a> to schedule a consultation.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Florida is one of the few states that recognize the enforceability of non-compete agreements against employees and independent contractors. However, employers must be careful when drafting such type of contract, as non-competes need to meet specific legal standards to be considered valid.\u00a0 In practice, many employers try to force employees to sign overbroad non-competes. Unfortunately, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"How to Defend Against an Overbroad Non-Compete in Florida%%page%% %%sep%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"Click here to know how to defend against an overbroad non-compete in Florida. For further legal guidance, call us at (305) 921-0976.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[103],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romyjurado.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Florida Non-Compete Agreement – Definition\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Non-Compete Agreements Must be Reasonable\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
A Non-Compete Must be Valid to Be Enforced\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Overbroad Non-Compete vs Tortious Interference in Florida\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
We Can Help You to Deal with Non-Compete Agreements in Florida<\/span><\/h2>\n