What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Kentucky
Good evening everyone, and I want to thank anyone in advance for shedding in light into this. I also want to make it clear that any advice given on this topic is not legal advice, and if need be I will venture down that path. I just want to get some opinions on this first.
So I have been with my current employer for about 1.5 years now. I love the company, and the people I work with, and the work that I do. I do not love the amount of traveling so much, as well two other reasons that I am looking to leave the company. From here on out, they will be referred to as <Old_Company>. They are a Microsoft partner consulting firm. I work W-2 full time for them, as a Systems Engineering Consultant where I provide Microsoft services (primarily around System Center, Hyper-V, and VDI) to enterprise customers that hire <Old_Company>.
About two months ago I found a job posting for a similar position with another consulting firm with an office in my same city (HQ is in a different city) which I am interested in, and applied for. I had my final interview with them this past Friday, and I think my chances are good. They provide consulting services in the same capacity that I do now, except they target small and medium size businesses, and are NOT just about Microsoft products. I would be working with Microsoft System Center and Hyper-V, but also VMware, EMC/HP/Dell SANs, HP/Dell Servers, Cisco networking, etc. So with that in mind, there is overlap between the two companies, but very little. I will call this new position <New_Company> from here on out. They provide me the opportunity to work with the technology that I want to (virtualization, storage, networking) while being less travel (no weeks out of town at a time), and at least a 20% increase on my base salary (both companies have commission and bonuses).
Now my concern is with the non-compete agreement that I signed 1.5 years ago with <Old_Company>. Here is the clause that has me confused, as well as the recruiter I am working with:
Employee specifically agrees that during employment with <Old_Company> and for a period of one year following termination of employment for any reason whatsoever Employee will not (except on behalf of <Old_Company>), directly or indirectly:
solicit for business or serve or do business with, in a similar role or function to Employee's role or function with <Old_Company>or in any capacity related to the information technology services or products provided by <Old_Company>, any customer of <Old_Company> for whose account Employee provided any services (whether or not billed or of a billable nature) during the one year period immediately preceding termination, and Employee will not influence or attempt to influence any customer of <Old_Company> to terminate or modify any agreement or potential agreement or course of dealing with <Old_Company>
Now when I read the statement, I can read it in two different ways. The first being that I cannot work in a consulting capacity for a period of one year after termination with <Old_Company>, but I don't see that as being logical. The second way I have read it is that I cannot work with any of the clients that I have worked with through <Old_Company> for a period of one year, in any capacity, including consulting.
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solicit for business or serve or do business with [SNIPPED] any customer of <Old_Company> for whose account Employee provided any services[...]
in a similar role or function to Employee's role or function with <Old_Company> or in any capacity related to the information technology services or products provided by <Old_Company>
-----
By removing the phrase between the comas, it seems that I would be fine.
It's not clear, and that's usually the goal of these non-competes. I have discussed this with <New_Company> and have pretty well determined that none of the clients I have worked with at <Old_Company> have any relationship with <New_Company>, which makes sense since <Old_Company> targets Enterprise customers and <New_Company> targets SMB.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
Kentucky
Good evening everyone, and I want to thank anyone in advance for shedding in light into this. I also want to make it clear that any advice given on this topic is not legal advice, and if need be I will venture down that path. I just want to get some opinions on this first.
So I have been with my current employer for about 1.5 years now. I love the company, and the people I work with, and the work that I do. I do not love the amount of traveling so much, as well two other reasons that I am looking to leave the company. From here on out, they will be referred to as <Old_Company>. They are a Microsoft partner consulting firm. I work W-2 full time for them, as a Systems Engineering Consultant where I provide Microsoft services (primarily around System Center, Hyper-V, and VDI) to enterprise customers that hire <Old_Company>.
About two months ago I found a job posting for a similar position with another consulting firm with an office in my same city (HQ is in a different city) which I am interested in, and applied for. I had my final interview with them this past Friday, and I think my chances are good. They provide consulting services in the same capacity that I do now, except they target small and medium size businesses, and are NOT just about Microsoft products. I would be working with Microsoft System Center and Hyper-V, but also VMware, EMC/HP/Dell SANs, HP/Dell Servers, Cisco networking, etc. So with that in mind, there is overlap between the two companies, but very little. I will call this new position <New_Company> from here on out. They provide me the opportunity to work with the technology that I want to (virtualization, storage, networking) while being less travel (no weeks out of town at a time), and at least a 20% increase on my base salary (both companies have commission and bonuses).
Now my concern is with the non-compete agreement that I signed 1.5 years ago with <Old_Company>. Here is the clause that has me confused, as well as the recruiter I am working with:
Employee specifically agrees that during employment with <Old_Company> and for a period of one year following termination of employment for any reason whatsoever Employee will not (except on behalf of <Old_Company>), directly or indirectly:
solicit for business or serve or do business with, in a similar role or function to Employee's role or function with <Old_Company>or in any capacity related to the information technology services or products provided by <Old_Company>, any customer of <Old_Company> for whose account Employee provided any services (whether or not billed or of a billable nature) during the one year period immediately preceding termination, and Employee will not influence or attempt to influence any customer of <Old_Company> to terminate or modify any agreement or potential agreement or course of dealing with <Old_Company>
Now when I read the statement, I can read it in two different ways. The first being that I cannot work in a consulting capacity for a period of one year after termination with <Old_Company>, but I don't see that as being logical. The second way I have read it is that I cannot work with any of the clients that I have worked with through <Old_Company> for a period of one year, in any capacity, including consulting.
-----
solicit for business or serve or do business with [SNIPPED] any customer of <Old_Company> for whose account Employee provided any services[...]
in a similar role or function to Employee's role or function with <Old_Company> or in any capacity related to the information technology services or products provided by <Old_Company>
-----
By removing the phrase between the comas, it seems that I would be fine.
It's not clear, and that's usually the goal of these non-competes. I have discussed this with <New_Company> and have pretty well determined that none of the clients I have worked with at <Old_Company> have any relationship with <New_Company>, which makes sense since <Old_Company> targets Enterprise customers and <New_Company> targets SMB.
Thoughts?
Thanks!