Any lawyers here or knowledgeable people?

[ib2loud]

I have one with my company but they have refused to help me gain more business in this area in nearly 3 years, and in that time my work has been cut down to less than 1/3 what it was and I am now the ONLY employee of the entire corporation in Oklahoma. I was wondering if anyone here has any legal knowledge of how strong these contracts are if I were to work for the competition.

Thanks for any advice, and feel free to ask if you need more info.

It is related to photography as the job is taking photos of cars for car dealerships.

[gjl711]

You need to talk to a lawyer locally. There is not enough information for anyone to even venture a guess as to what the right thing is to do. See a lawyer right away.

[ib2loud]

That's kind of what I figured. I do have a friend who is a former lawyer but I haven't talked to him in a long time...may be a good reason to do so.

[argyle]

Do you have a contract? If so, read it. Generally, a contract may have a no-compete clause but they're not usually enforceable (I did contract engineering work for a long time...it never stopped an engineer from leaving one firm and going to another). If you don't have a contract, there shouldn't be a problem. This is not to be construed as legal advice...if you have a contract, read it and then talk to an attorney that's licensed to practice in your area (in some locations, there's sometimes a free call-in service put on by a local radio station or newspaper).

[ib2loud]

sorry i meant to start my first post with "Does anyone know much about non-compete contracts?" It had been a long day and I guess I imagined typing it.

I'll just have to see for sure what i end up doing, need to have a 'for-sure' job offer from the new company before i say anything to anyone

[BDM]

I have one with my company but they have refused to help me gain more business in this area in nearly 3 years, and in that time my work has been cut down to less than 1/3 what it was and I am now the ONLY employee of the entire corporation in Oklahoma. I was wondering if anyone here has any legal knowledge of how strong these contracts are if I were to work for the competition.

Thanks for any advice, and feel free to ask if you need more info.

It is related to photography as the job is taking photos of cars for car dealerships.

As already noted, you really need to see a local lawyer as part of the answer may depend on statutory and state case law. It is also very important for the lawyer to examine the contract and speak with you about exactly what happened and when. These cases can be a little complicated and so you need a local attorney who does a lot of his practice in civil, business law. Good luck.

Bruce