Thomson Reuters Practical Law recently featured a Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility blog post, titled “Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Co-Worker Non-Solicitation Clause,” co-authored by Peter A. Steinmeyer, Member of the Firm, and Erica McKinney, Associate, in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Chicago office.
Following is an excerpt:
Of the various types of post-employment restrictions imposed on employees, a restriction on the recruitment of former co-workers (sometimes referred to as a “no-poach” or “anti-raiding” clause) is the type most likely to be enforced by a court. As a result, this is one type of post-employment restriction that is frequently drafted without the careful thought generally put in to traditional non-competes and client non-solicitation clauses. But in what could be a foreshadowing of closer judicial scrutiny of co-worker non-solicitation clauses nationwide, the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently held that the Wisconsin non-compete statute applies to such clauses, and that the particular clause in question was unenforceable because it was not “reasonably necessary for the protection of the employer.”
