Non-compete contract

[bookbinder]

What is the name of your state?Oregon.
Today every employee in my company was given a confidentiality agreement
that included a non-compete clause ststing "Employee agrees that during the term of employment by Employer, Employee (as an individual or with another company) will not provide services or products that are in competition with services or products provided by Employer. Employee further agrees that should employment be discontinued for any reason, Employee will not provide any competitive services or products to any of Employers clients for 24 months thereafter. This restriction shall not be construed to prohibit Employee, after discontinuation of employment, from providing any services or products which are entirely unrelated to Employer's business and which do not compete with Employer's services and products."
We are a printing company and I am a production employee with 20 years in the trade. Printing is what I know and it is how I feed my family. If I were to leave the company, I understand this to mean that I am unable to work in my trade. Am i correct? We were given no additional compensation and this was given to all employees.

 

[Some Random Guy]

This is less restrictive than most non-competes that I have seen because it doesn't say you can't work in printing, just that you cant do work for clients of your old employer.

"Employee will not provide any competitive services or products to any of Employers clients for 24 months thereafter"

So you can leave any time you want, you just can't take customers with you.

 

[bookbinder]

What if my new employer gets one of my old employers clients

Do i then need to resign

 

[Some Random Guy]

This is where you want to get a lawyer's advice. The non-compete has to do with your actions, not your employer's. If you are integral in getting the client to move to your new employer then expect a lawsuit.

But if you have nothing to do with sales, I would expect no problems.