header-logo header-logo

Interim injunction in employee competition cases

27 May 2022 / Caroline Field
Issue: 7980 / Categories: Features , Employment
printer mail-detail
82718
Caroline Field explains why delaying agreement of undertakings doesn’t pay…& may cost
  • Covers employee competition cases, specifically interim injunctions granted pending further exploration at trial.
  • Offers practical advice and covers recent caselaw.

Injunctions to stop employees commencing employment with a competitor in breach of a non-compete are routinely granted by the courts. Often, this is in recognition of the difficulties of policing compliance with other covenants and breach of confidentiality claims where confidentiality is the legitimate interest the employer is seeking to protect. An interim injunction ‘holds the ring’ until matters can be fully explored at trial. Enforceability of the covenant (including examination of meaning, whether it goes no further than reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate interest and/or whether a repudiatory breach of contract has caused the covenant to fall away) will typically be considered at trial. Claims follow a familiar pattern.

Pursuant to the rules set down in American Cynamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975] 1 ALL ER 504, [1975] AC 396, the court’s threshold for granting

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bloomsbury Square Employment Law—Donna Clancy

Bloomsbury Square Employment Law—Donna Clancy

Employment law team strengthened with partner appointment

mfg Solicitors—Matt Smith

mfg Solicitors—Matt Smith

Corporate solicitor joins as partner in Birmingham

Freeths—Joe Lythgoe

Freeths—Joe Lythgoe

Corporate director with expertise in creative industries joins mergers and acquisitions team

NEWS
The High Court’s decision in Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys has thrown the careers of experienced CILEX litigators into jeopardy, warns Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers in NLJ this week
Sir Brian Leveson’s claim that there is ‘no right to jury trial’ erects a constitutional straw man, argues Professor Graham Zellick KC in NLJ this week. He argues that Leveson dismantles a position almost no-one truly holds, and thereby obscures the deeper issue: the jury’s place within the UK’s constitutional tradition
Why have private prosecutions surged despite limited data? Niall Hearty of Rahman Ravelli explores their rise in this week's NLJ 
The public law team at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer surveys significant recent human rights and judicial review rulings in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley examines how debarring orders, while attractive to claimants seeking swift resolution, can complicate trials—most notably in fraud cases requiring ‘particularly cogent’ proof
back-to-top-scroll