i wish to leave my current job and have been offered a place in another salon. my contract says i should not work within half a mile from the salon or any salon owned by the company. the new place is just under that. i do not intend to take clients with me. what are the chances of my employer taking me to court? another stylist left and works in the same town and nothing happened to him. i live in a small town and there is another salon owned by the company on the other side of the town. the overlap of both radii means i cannot work in town center at all.
Restrictive Covenant
- Thread starter pawsg
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nicola0201
Well-Known Member
Honestly do not listen to that rubbish! I hate it when salons try to impose this rule. They will no way take you to court, i guarantee it!
This was my reply on a recent thread
"The course fee clause will be very black and white and is standard for most employers, and only fair really. So if they pay for a course and you leave within 6 months of completeing that couse you owe them 50% of he course fees. If you think it might be on the cards ask before attending any course what the cost is. To be honest if you refused to pay they would have to issue a county court proceeding against you, which would only be a black mark if you refused to cough up.
The radius bit isn't so black and white and again to enforce it they would have to take you to court for damages. They would have to prove that they had lost income by you poaching clients from their salon, but even if clients did transfer to you most courts don't uphold it because you can't prevent someone from earning a living, and if that is what you are trained in then obviously that is what you are going to do. Although if it's 1.5 miles or km it's not hugely prohibitive, where as if it was say 15 miles then it would be seen as unreasonable.
But as I said most employers rarely take action to start with. "
Obviously the training bit is not relevant to you but the radius clause is.
Basically their clause has to be reasonable and cannot prevent you from earning a living. They would have to prove that they have suffered damages as a result of you working in your new salon etc. etc. it is highly unlikely that the costs incurred would be worth it, and even more unlikely that a judjement would go in their favour, especially if they are the 'big boys' with 2 salons in town!
"The course fee clause will be very black and white and is standard for most employers, and only fair really. So if they pay for a course and you leave within 6 months of completeing that couse you owe them 50% of he course fees. If you think it might be on the cards ask before attending any course what the cost is. To be honest if you refused to pay they would have to issue a county court proceeding against you, which would only be a black mark if you refused to cough up.
The radius bit isn't so black and white and again to enforce it they would have to take you to court for damages. They would have to prove that they had lost income by you poaching clients from their salon, but even if clients did transfer to you most courts don't uphold it because you can't prevent someone from earning a living, and if that is what you are trained in then obviously that is what you are going to do. Although if it's 1.5 miles or km it's not hugely prohibitive, where as if it was say 15 miles then it would be seen as unreasonable.
But as I said most employers rarely take action to start with. "
Obviously the training bit is not relevant to you but the radius clause is.
Basically their clause has to be reasonable and cannot prevent you from earning a living. They would have to prove that they have suffered damages as a result of you working in your new salon etc. etc. it is highly unlikely that the costs incurred would be worth it, and even more unlikely that a judjement would go in their favour, especially if they are the 'big boys' with 2 salons in town!
Sarah-Jean
Well-Known Member
If you were my employee I would do everything in my legal power to prevent you from working within the stated area, including pursuing it through the courts. There's no point having contracts if you're not going to enforce them in my mind and for an area as small as that they are very enforceable...
My Husband was prevented from taking a fantastic job because of a clause in his contract that stated he couldn't work within a much larger area and it was enforced. They tend to say if you have a small area for a small time then that can be pursued anyone who tells you to just ignore it and not take it into account is frankly giving you bad advice...
My Husband was prevented from taking a fantastic job because of a clause in his contract that stated he couldn't work within a much larger area and it was enforced. They tend to say if you have a small area for a small time then that can be pursued anyone who tells you to just ignore it and not take it into account is frankly giving you bad advice...
Nailjems
Well-Known Member
Agree wholeheartedly with this. If it was my salon I would pursue the contract clauses to the full. It sound Luke your employer has created contracts with some employment law advice and will probably have recourse to a legal insurance to pay for action against contract breaches.
To be fair they are only trying to protect their livelihood as any small business would do, but before you commit to anything try and have a civil chat with your employer, you might be pleasantly surprised if they can reasonably negotiate your departure terms. X
We belong to the NHF, they have such clauses in their contracts and they are enforceable. We also get a legal team included in the membership so they would lawfully act on our behalf.
I feel you should think of this as if you owned your own business, you would want to protect it as much as possible. It's fairly easy nowadays with fb and other social networks to investigate poaching.
I would remain professional, chat to your current boss, you never know you may wish to return if it doesn't work out at the new place.
We are not all aggressive salon owners but we have to look after our business at the end of the day
from Debbie's HTC Sense
I feel you should think of this as if you owned your own business, you would want to protect it as much as possible. It's fairly easy nowadays with fb and other social networks to investigate poaching.
I would remain professional, chat to your current boss, you never know you may wish to return if it doesn't work out at the new place.
We are not all aggressive salon owners but we have to look after our business at the end of the day
from Debbie's HTC Sense
Jen889
Well-Known Member
Hi
The only way they wouldn't take you to court is to prove that this new job is the only one out there that you are able to get that's close to your home. This happened to someone I know and she won because your former employer cannot stop you from earning a living
The only way they wouldn't take you to court is to prove that this new job is the only one out there that you are able to get that's close to your home. This happened to someone I know and she won because your former employer cannot stop you from earning a living
