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I'm in England and also see this contract clause a lot. Personally I've always assumed that it would be unenforceable if it was work unrelated to the business,
by eterm 13y ago
I'm in England and also see this contract clause a lot. Personally I've always assumed that it would be unenforceable if it was work unrelated to the business, but I've not yet had reason to hire a solicitor to find out.
I'd suggest you ask a solicitor rather than an internet though.
p.s. To everyone saying "It depends if it's in the contract" that's not very helpful, as it likely is in the contract but that doesn't make it necessarily enforceable. Plenty of contract terms aren't enforceable when you actually get a lawyer to look at them. In UK contract law, contracts cannot have unfair clauses.
- Joe8Bit 13y agoAlso based in the UK, and as far as I know you're right. To reiterate, speak to the a solicitor, but I've been told informally by several solicitor acquaintances they're usually unenforceable.
- walshemj 13y agoUm so where these solicitors a specialist in employment law? Unfortunately a lot of people in the uk take advice on employment from the same solicitor's who did their house legal work and come badly unstuck. The Q is can could you afford to defend a claim on your IP - you wont get legal Aid
- arethuza 13y ago"Unfortunately a lot of people in the uk take advice on employment from the same solicitor's who did their house legal work and come badly unstuck." In that case you would have a serious professional negligence claim against the law firm and possibly the solicitor who gave you the advice.
- walshemj 13y agoThe difficult part is "related" if for example you wrote songs as a hobby and wrote a top 10 hit you woudl be safe - the difficulty comes when your employed as a "developer" its a lot harder (and expensive) to prove your work is not "related" to your employment.