Threat of civil suit after fired and going back to work

[EvanBaxter]

What is the name of your state? alabama

hi

i got hired on for a internet service provider 2 years ago. lets call it `company a.` it was a partnership. when i was hired on, i was made to sign a non-compete/non-disclosure agreement. it was nothing fancy, just something they pulled off the internet and printed. after about 9 months, one of the people from the partnership quit and formed another company and ill call it `company b.` i do not remember signing a new non-compete/non-disclosure for `company b` but i may have. i worked for this guy for the next 15 months. recently, he fired me because i was having to detox off of speed for my probation that im on. i started on the weekend, called in sick for 3 days (but the real reason was later disclosed by my probation officer when he was asked), showed up and worked a half day thursday and then came in and worked a full day friday. at the end of work friday, i was told i was being let go to get my stuff straightened out and that i MAYBE could get my job back the next week but i had to call them. i called the following friday and my call was not returned.

one of the businesses (company c) that i did work for while working for `company a` and `company b` had been trying to get me to come work for them for a couple months. since it seemed i was not wanted back to work for `company b,` i decided to talk to `company c.` they were more than happy to hire me. the problem comes when `company b` found out about me working for `company c`. the owner of `company b` told me that if i went to work for them at `company c,` i would face a civil suit. im asuming breach of contract of the non-compete. i talked to a lawyer today and he says alabama does not like non-compete contracts and that i should just go back to work but he could not find the non-compete statute while i was in his office.

i just wanted to get others opinions. just fyi `company a` is no longer around. the partnership was disbanded. also one of the people at `company b` knows someone at the da's office in the local town and im afraid they could try and get me in trouble somehow.

while working at `company b`, i setup a vpn network using software that is publicly available. one of the things i wanted to do for `company c` was setup its own vpn network with the same hardware and software to keep them from paying a recurring fee to `company b`. would the non-disclosure cover this? i am not really sure what a non-disclosure usually covers. i would not think it would cover this since i did nothing more than configure hardware on mini computers and software on a linux distro.

sorry but i am just trying to get my life back on track and want to go back to working for someone who i would actually enjoy working for. the owner of `company c` is really nice and has treated me really well considering my circumstances.

thank u for any help i can get.

 

[Betty]

I can't really tell you if the non-compete/non-disclosure would be upheld or not. Did your lawyer review it?
I can tell you the main provisions of the law on non-competes in Al. Non-competes are unenforceable against professionals, such as lawyers, doctors, & accountants. They can be enforceable against other employees to the extent necessary to protect the employer's legitimate interest, when reasonably restricted in time & geographic scope & when they don't impose an undue hardship on employees. To enforce a non-compete, employers usually have to show that an employee had access to confidential information or key customer relationships.