As an employee, 4 questions you should ask before you sign that Oklahoma non-compete

Farm workers shoulder tools at end of day near Ripley, in the fertile Palo Verde Valley of the lower Colorado River region, May 1972

No one goes into a new employment situation believing it will end badly.  

But the facts are that all relationships are going to end; from the time the relationship starts, the clock is ticking toward the end. And by its very nature, many times the *end* comes with difficulty.

For that very reason, you must consider the end before you sign a non-compete agreement. While in many circumstances, Oklahoma non-compete agreements are unenforceable, you must be painstakingly careful.

These questions are a starting place for understanding what you are getting yourself into by signing the non-compete agreement:

1⃣  What does the agreement prohibit me from doing?

2⃣  What can I still do if I sign the agreement?

3⃣  If I am terminated without a good reason is the non-compete still enforceable?

4⃣  How likely is my employer to enforce the agreement if I leave?

 


Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."