February 2006
WIN AT WORK MONTHLY
A Community Service of SESSIONS & KIMBALL LLP, Employee Rights Attorneys
Win at Work	Employee Rights Update
UNREASONABLE NON-COMPETITION AGREEMENTS Competition may seem as American as motherhood and apple pie, but it’s not always encouraged. Employers commonly impose non‑competition agreements as conditions of hiring, employment, and severance benefits. Yet courts value your right to work more than your employer’s desire to prevent competition. These agreements are unenforceable if they’re “unreasonable.” They’re unreasonable if they last too long, or are too broad geographically or in terms of the nature of business they affect. Some states, like California, even presume them to be void unless given with the sale of a business. Disclosure of trade secrets may be illegal, but that’s a much narrower prohibition. However, evaluate any non-competition agreement as if it could be valid. Know its duration, geography, type of business it affects, and what you’re giving up. Negotiate to make it void if you’re terminated, or ask for appropriate compensation. Don’t compromise your right to work and fairly compete. It’s just too valuable.	NEW LAWS FOR 2006 California and federal law has developed in 2005 to improve employee rights in discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The courts have improved discrimination standards by requiring a heavier burden of proof from employers who defend disability claims and by prohibiting discrimination based upon a person’s genetic characteristics. The federal Ninth Circuit has ruled that offensive supervisor conduct does not need to be of a sexual nature in sexual harassment cases if the conduct is directed at one group more than another. The conduct could include shouting, use of foul language, gestures and blocking or confrontational provocation. The conduct can produce a hostile work environment and have adverse impact on the victimized group. Sexual favoritism in the workplace has now been recognized as creating a hostile sexual environment. The California Supreme Court has further established that there can be a viable retaliation claim by an employee who reasonably believes a superior’s order to be discriminatory and does not report that belief to the employer. Peter W. Taylor, Attorney
Update on our attorneys: Don Sessions has received nation-wide media attention lately on a sexual harassment case. He also lectured to approximately seventy attorneys in San Diego on recent employment law developments.
Look for our answers to employees’ questions in the “Life and Work Q & A” column of the Orange County Register’s "Business Monday" magazine. E-mail us at info@job-law.com to have your address added or removed from our monthly mailing list. For more employee rights information or for past issues of Win at Work Monthly, click here for our website, job-law.com; here to order our book, Employee Rights in California; or contact our office directly at 23456 Madero, Suite 170, Mission Viejo, CA 92691, (949) 380-0900, (800) 774-7494, info@job-law.com. The Win at Work portion of Win at Work Monthly is from our ongoing syndicated column, which appears in the Los Angeles Times’ “Career Builder Magazine” and elsewhere. Win at Work Monthly is intended for general information and should not be construed as legal advice or opinion. Readers in need of legal advice should promptly retain the services of an attorney. ©2006 by Sessions & Kimball LLP