Employee Noncompete Agreements and Trade Secrets in the COVID-19 Era

The global coronavirus pandemic has impacted employers in innumerable ways, one of which is how they recruit and hire employees and protect their trade secrets and other confidential information. The pandemic also coincides with unprecedented activity on the state and, to some degree, federal levels. Lawmakers and courts are looking at noncompetition restrictions harder than ever before, and through new restrictions they are effectively creating new pitfalls for employers who seek to protect their confidential information, customer relationships and specialized training.

Join Faegre Drinker labor and employment and intellectual property attorneys as they discuss how the pandemic and the resulting increase in remote work arrangements, as well as new legal challenges, impact employers as they seek to maintain their competitive advantage and protect confidential information through the use of targeted noncompetition restrictions, other employee covenants, and other methods.

Topics will include:

• The reasons noncompetition restriction enforcement and trade secret protection remain one of the biggest areas of concern for employers
• New state laws limiting noncompetition restriction enforcement, including laws aimed at protecting lower-wage workers and creating procedural hurdles to enforcement
• Recent federal interest in noncompetition restrictions
• Best employer practices to protect trade secrets in a remote work environment
• How to litigate noncompetition restrictions and trade secret matters when …
  • Court access is limited
  • Attitudes concerning what justifies immediate injunctive relief have changed
  • Reduced hours, layoffs and furloughs are common, and
  • Remote work has complicated the application and interpretation of noncompetition restrictions

Have a scheduling conflict? Register for the live event, and we’ll send you the on-demand recording shortly after the broadcast date.

QUESTIONS? Please contact Kassie Weld or call +1 612 766 7305.