What Is a South Carolina Non-Compete Agreement?
In South Carolina, a non-compete agreement is a type of employment agreement utilizing restrictive covenants that businesses use to protect their trade secrets, business practices, and other legitimate business interests from competing businesses by restricting the actions of their former employees. Companies do this by having an employee or independent contractor sign a written promise that they will not engage in competitive behavior such as working for a competitor or procuring similar employment within a certain geographic area. Although such agreements between an employer and an employee may be legally binding, the state of South Carolina does not have any specific laws that enforce these agreements.
Non-competition agreements can be their own contracts or employment contracts can have non-compete clauses within them. Generally, a non-compete agreement is used along with a non-disclosure agreement (also known as a confidentiality agreement) and a non-solicitation agreement to better protect an employer's interests as part of the employment relationship.
However, before business owners draft a non-compete agreement, they should seek legal advice from a law firm that practices employment law. An employment law attorney can advise the business owner on whether the document truly protects the legitimate interests of the employer or if there are any legal issues with the contract that should be corrected to prevent any issues with enforceability in the event a lawsuit must be filed in the South Carolina courts. South Carolina law, when it comes to non-competes, has a very sound public policy record. It is always best to have a non-compete agreement reviewed before using it.
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