Understanding non compete agreement wisconsin is essential for proper safety procedures and maintaining high level quality control in the industrial sector. There are many situations in which a business must maintain secrecy regarding proprietary formulas, processes, or production methods. To that end, many companies will require their employees to sign a non-compete agreement as a condition of employment. In some cases, future promotions or advancement may be contingent upon signing a non-compete agreement. In many states, including Wisconsin, non-competition agreements are approved by law. The only exceptions are in cases of extreme duress, and in instances where the employee proves that the contract has been violated by an employer. Even violations are subject to strict rules and procedures, which means that a careful analysis of the laws regarding contracts is required. Failure to follow the relevant laws can be costly at best, and disastrous at worst; which results in claims being filed between competing businesses regarding the employment of former employees. To help ensure that your business is protected, familiarize yourself with the laws of Wisconsin regarding non-compete agreements.
All aspects of the non-compete agreement are covered by Wisconsin state law regarding employment. Although the laws are not as strict as in other states, agreements which contain aspects which are not allowed may be rendered invalid by a judge. In order for the agreement to be valid, the conditions under which the previous employee could have violated the agreement must be present, even if they are not applicable to the specific situation in question. The terms and conditions of all non-compete agreements must meet these three criteria to be considered legally binding:
- Criteria one
- Criteria two
- Criteria three
Without any one of these four criteria being met, there can be no case for violation of a non-compete agreement. In order to avoid unnecessary litigation, any business in Wisconsin that has employees who sign non-compete agreements must either follow the law from the outset, or have already gotten permission to violate the law in the case of one or more former employees. Cases have been settled in the past in which dozens of contracts and employees were added to a single agreement in exchange for being permitted to change either location, or reasonability and punishment, all resulting in a single court case.
Another consideration when using non-compete agreements in the industrial sector is that they can not be used to prevent employees from using common industry knowledge and processes in new employment. If your company requires specialized training which would provide competitive knowledge, then you must provide this training to any employees you wish to place under a non-compete agreement. Without our company’s training, your employees would not be able to perform their job compared to someone who has been given specialized training, and thus there is no competitive advantage to enforcing the non-compete.
Although non-compete agreements have become commonplace throughout the industrial sector, it is crucial to ensure that they are used according to the laws of Wisconsin. Failure to comply with all aspects of state law will result in litigating the validity of the agreement instead of a potential claim for damages due to employment or material theft.
For more information on employment law in Wisconsin, you can visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.
