confidentiality & non-compete

[[email protected]]

I have been employed by a company for 4 years. I was forced to sign a confidentiality/non-compete contract after 7 months of employment. In September the company did not pay their insurance premium and were canceled. They have tried a couple of times to get coverage with another company and have been unsuccesful. They just announced this week that they have decided not to carry health insurance any longer. They also mentioned that we were not able to get coverage because of health issues with some of the employees. The owner mentioned that he was going to wait for 6 months, and see if those problems go away before getting insurance again. (Meaning he was waiting for the people with health issues to quit) My wife had cancer two years ago, and now I have no health insurance. I can't get her covered on a policy of my own without her being subject to pre-exhisting conditions. Until this incident I had no intentions of breaking my contract with the company. I have been searching for a job since this last incident, and have been offered a position with a competitor of my employer. Does this situation, (that they put me in) give me any grounds to break my contract with my employer?
I am in Arkanas, which is a right to work state.

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

You can probably safely break it.
Non-competes:
http://www.nolo.com/encyclopedia/articles/emp/noncompetes.html

http://www.nolo.com/auntie/question_328.html


http://www.emergit.com/html/content_cur/profiles/290800_clauses.html

For insurance, from the freeadvice.com page:
IS A BUSINESS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE TO EMPLOYEES?
No. While it is common to provide health insurance as part of employee benefit packages for workers, the law generally does not require a business to do so. However, in the area of health insurance that situation is changing. Specifically, the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) will take effect January 1, 1998, and one of the main features of the Act guarantees the continued availability of health insurance, regardless of medical condition, for those already with coverage through employment or otherwise. For this reason, and others relating to court cases and state laws, while there may be no initial obligation to offer health insurance, once health insurance is in place for an employed person it will generally remain available, and this is especially so even now in employment situations governed by collective bargaining agreements.

If an employee loses health insurance coverage as a result of job loss, the employee can often qualify for individual coverage under extension of benefits provisions in the policy or plan or through Federal law mandated "COBRA" extended coverage (which is limited to 18 months normally, or 29 months if the individual is disabled, or 36 months if you are a spouse or dependent of a deceased insured or are divorced from an insured). Employed persons with questions in this area can contact their union or association representative or their company's benefits office.