Reading over the standard IP agreement that everyone is forced to sign when starting at HON, paragraph 6 says that for 2 years after leaving HON you can't work for a competitor. For anyone who has left HON recently, especially anyone who went straight to GE, Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney or Williams, I'd like to know if HON made any effort to enforce this. Some of these companies have tempting postings up for basically the same engineering job I do now but I don't know if HON would make any effort to block such a move.
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I contracted for accompany once. When we separated they said the same things. They fired a shot across the bow as my lawyer said and then he threw their letter in the trash. I said hey....aren't you going to answer the letter. He said why, it about public knowledge and the public knows everything. Never heard another word.
A former Aero employee and their new employer received "a strongly worded letter" - but in general, it is not enforceable.
OP, thanks for clarifying the text... that is a NON-DISCLOSURE agreement... so you are allowed to work for anyone just not disclose tradesecrets and other IP. Its not stopping the employee from working but is more of a warning for the employee to not share information with competitors...that is illegal and enforceable! So, if Honeywell finds a competitor doing something that can be classified as an HW trade secret, and they see that an Ex-honeywell employee works there now, they can have a two year window of enforcement.
Yes that's the one @pjv.
@eju the exact sentence that I'm asking about is "I will not engage without the prior written consent of Honeywell's Law Department, either during the period of time I am employed by Honeywell or for a period of two years following my Termination of Employment for any reason, in any activity or employment in the faithful performance of which it could be reasonably anticipated that I would use or disclose Honeywell's Trade Secrets, Proprietary and Confidential Information."
If you leave without accepting any severance (RIF), it is not enforceable. I know a former senior manager in one of the ACS businesses that went to legal to ask them to pursue the non-compete against one of his former salespeople. They told him that they would write "a strongly worded letter" informing the former employee that they were in violation of the non-compete and Honeywell could pursue legal action against them if continued to violate...and that was all that legal would do. If they pursue it and lose, they can longer even threaten former employees because they will have set a precedent.
Best of luck to you with your new employer!! I hope you have a happy and rewarding career!!
I know someone from another company that was in this situation and left his current employer, and went to work for a competitor, the previous employer took him to court, the Judge said if you do not want him to work in the field he knows at the competitor, than pay him the 2 years you don't want him to work,
case was dropped, so it doesn't mean Jack sh....
States as broadly as you have, this contract statement would be considered non-enforcible as it would severely limit your ability to earn a living. A reasonable person is expected to leave to go to a competitor as the most common path to re-employment is with another firm in the same industry.
There is no such thing as a non compete agreement that you need to sign when you start. Only non disclosed and it's totally different. You can work for whoever you want.
If you're referring to the "Employee Agreement Relating to Trade Secrets, Proprietary and Confidential Information" that you sign before and after employment at HON, there is absolutely nothing in there that prohibits you from working for a competitor. I've had a lawyer look at that document, and he reiterated that as well.
There are tons of ex-HON people who've gone to work for competitors. If you check out a competiting company in LinkedIn, it would show you "Alumni from your companies" that currently work there.
What is the exact verbiage? Non-Compete and non-disclosures can cover different things. And an overly broad non-compete agreement can unenforceable under hte public policy doctrine