What happens if a Covenant Not to Compete is unreasonable?
If a court determines that the non-competition agreement is unreasonable in geographic location or length of time the court may void the entire non-competition agreement or judicially modify the length of time or geographic location by rewriting it to make it reasonable. Courts around the country differ on their preference when faced with this issue. Can Covenants Not to Compete be imposed on existing employees? Another important issue is whether or not non-competition agreements are enforceable if required to be signed after the individual has already been employed by the veterinary practice. Owners of practices frequently hire associate veterinarians to operate their practices without a non-competition employment agreement until they realize that the lack of a covenant could impact their ability to sell their practices, at which time they will want all of their existing associates to sign non-competition agreements. This creates questions as to the enforceability of otherwise enforce
