Companies like to use non-compete agreements to protect their interests, but what if an alternative type of agreement is a better fit?
Non-compete agreements are often too restrictive, reducing someone’s ability to create an income in a specific geographic area or for a particular period of time. In a rural state like Maine, every single professional is needed, and non-compete agreements can get in the way of attracting or retaining these professionals, impacting access to care for local residents.
In this episode of Private Practices in Maine, Michael continues to explore the laws surrounding non-compete covenants and why a non-solicitation or confidentiality covenant may adequately serve a business’s purposes. In this final installment on the hidden impacts of non-compete agreements, the focus shifts toward the existing, new, and proposed legislation in Maine pertaining to non-compete agreements. He explains why barring non-compete agreements does not ban confidentiality agreements, and highlights the crucial considerations employers should bear in mind concerning these agreements.
Don’t miss this in-depth episode on the non-competes laws in Maine and the questions you should ask yourself before you ask an employee to sign one.
In this episode, you will hear:
- How a non-solicitation covenant differs from a non-compete covenant
- The purpose of a confidentiality agreement and what it could apply to in a business
- Why a bar on non-compete agreements does not bar confidentiality agreements
- What a trade secret is and the law surrounding it and what Maine’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act does
- Maine’s definition of a non-compete agreement in the context of an employer-employee relationship and why that could be impacted by nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements
- What Maine’s minimum compensation threshold means as it relates to non-compete agreements
- Why some non-competes remain enforceable in Maine
- How a new law will affect veterinarians, and corporate interests’ effects on veterinary medicine in Maine
- The profession that can’t be subjected to non-compete agreements–lawyers–and why that is
- A Maine proposed bill that would prohibit non-compete clauses altogether with a few exceptions
- The questions you should ask yourself before you ask an employee to sign a non-compete agreement
Resources from this Episode
Website – malloyfirmmaine.com
Phone – (207) 333-6700
2023 HHS Poverty level – https://malloyfirmmaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-HHS-Poverty-level.pdf
Maine Legislature Non-Compete Clause Rules: legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/26/title26sec599-A.html
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