Peter A. Steinmeyer, a Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Chicago office, authored an article in Law360, titled “Re-Examining Fair Consideration for Restrictive Covenants.” (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Yet, here, Getco apparently had second thoughts about paying the employee this large sum for sitting out. The opinion does not speculate as to why, and it could have been for any number of reasons: Perhaps the competitive landscape changed, perhaps Getco’s financial circumstances changed, perhaps Getco no longer cared about this particular employee, or perhaps Getco even thought it was doing him a favor by releasing him from his noncompete.
All that we do know from the opinion is that just over a week after the employee resigned, Getco notified him that it was waiving the six-month noncompete, allowing him to work anywhere, and that it was therefore not going to pay him any portion of the $1 million.