A Rhode Island Non-Compete Agreement is a legal document that can limit your ability to work in certain locations or share company information with competitors after leaving your job. It’s important to carefully read and understand the terms of any non-compete agreement you sign to avoid potential legal issues down the road.
Reasonable Uses and Objections
- Enforceable when terminated without cause? – Not decided.
- Employee non-solicitation agreement permitted? – Yes.
- Customer non-solicitation agreements permitted? – Yes.
- Does continuing employment equal sufficient consideration?– Yes.
Legally Enforceable in Rhode Island?
Yes, Rhode Island non-compete agreements are legally enforceable.
They can be used to prevent employees from sharing information from one business with the competitors of that business; however, there are certain limitations and restrictions that Rhode Island non-compete agreements must abide by as per RI Gen. Laws § 28-59-3. Otherwise, they might not be legally allowed.
Reasonable Use and Exemptions
A non-compete agreement in Rhode Island has to meet all reasonable use expectations for it to be legally enforceable.
The non-compete agreement must be narrowly tailored, and the employer must be able to prove that the agreement protects a legitimate business interest. Furthermore, a non-compete agreement cannot harm the public interest.
Several examples of individuals cannot be subjected to a non-compete agreement. This includes physicians, employees who are under the age of 18, student interns, short-term employees, and FLSA nonexempt employees.
In addition, low-wage employees who are not learning more than 2.5 times the federal poverty level, based on their regular hours, cannot be subjected to the terms of a non-compete agreement.
Time Limitations
A non-compete agreement has no specific duration limit, but it must be reasonable. The duration of the non-compete must make sense given the nature of the business and cannot be excessive or unreasonably long.
The statute of limitations in Rhode Island to file a lawsuit following a breach of a non-compete is ten years.
Geographical Limitations
A non-compete agreement in Rhode Island cannot place an overly harsh burden on an employee. If a judge decides the agreement is too broad, it could be thrown out.
The employer must be able to justify why a non-compete agreement has the geographic limitations that it does.
Sample
Take a closer look at our Rhode Island non-compete agreement template, which is available for download in Word and PDF:
