Unenforceable Post-Termination Restrictive Covenants

In CFF Holdings Limited and another v Mundey and others the High Court has held that a multi-national company which had non-poaching and non-compete covenants in its employment contracts could not enforce these because they were unreasonable.The non-poaching covenant was deemed to be too wide and it was impossible to identify which of the company’s employees in the UK and overseas were meant to be covered by it. The non-competition covenant was not considered to be needed to protect the company’s interests since less intrusive restraints would provide adequate protection.

This case serves to endorse how important it is to ensure that restrictions drafted into Contracts of Employment are actually enforceable.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.