The long and short of it

The last two years have seen several cases in which lengthy client contact restrictive covenants on termination of employment have been upheld by the courts. It has been said that covenants are currently “employer friendly” and 12 months can be applied with confidence.

This would be a dangerous assumption to make. Going back to the basics of covenant law, a restrictive covenant is void for restraint of trade unless it provides no more than reasonable protection for a legitimate interest. This was famously stated in the 2005 case of TFS v Morgan [2004] EWHC 3181 (QB), [2005] IRLR 246. It is a hasty practitioner who applies template covenants to an employment contract without considering the nature of the employee’s activities, client contact and seniority.

Covenants upheld

In each one of these recent cases, there has been clear justification for the period of restraint:

• Coppage v Safeynet Security Limited [2013] EWCA Civ 117, [2013] All ER (D) 308 (Feb): The