Posted December 14, 2023 with Tags Firm News
We defend many financial advisory firms and individuals in restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation. When an advisor moves from one firm to another, we help manage legal risk, and, if necessary, defend against the resulting lawsuit from the prior …
Posted December 4, 2023 with Tags Firm News
Hiring an applicant who has a non-compete or non-solicit agreement with a prior employer creates risk for the both the individual and the new employer. The prior employer can sue both the applicant for violating the contract and the new …
Posted May 17, 2023 with Tags Firm News
Minnesota is banning employment non-compete agreements and restricting provisions that require non-Minnesota laws or venues for disputes. The law will become effective on July 1, 2023, and will apply to agreements entered into on or after that date. Minnesota’s changes …
Posted January 19, 2023 with Tags Firm News
The FTC’s proposed rule banning non-competes nationally has received much attention, but the far likelier change to non-compete law for Minnesotans is from the all-DFL state government. Barely into session, the Minnesota legislature is considering two companion bills, HF295 and …
Posted June 6, 2022
In early March 2022, the Oregon legislature sought to extend that exclusion until 180 days after Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown terminated the COVID-19 emergency declaration signed into law in 2020. Governor Brown signed the extension of the pay equity exclusion just two days shy of terminating the COVID-19 emergency declaration on March 17, 2022, which termination became effective on April 1, 2022.
Posted February 17, 2022 with Tags Labor and Employment, Employment law
The Minnesota legislature is currently considering HF999, which would ban all non-compete agreements with all Minnesota employees making less than a certain salary threshold, and would require garden leave payments for employees making higher incomes. The bill is being heard …
Posted November 16, 2021 with Tags The Equal Pay Advisor
Employers in the not-to-distant past constructed pay scales based in part on the location of the employees. Employers routinely paid employees in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles a premium. By 2021, however, the concept of a worksite has been exploded, and employees work virtually from across the country. This change has dramatic implications for employers analyzing whether to structure pay scales tailored to geographic locales.
Posted December 3, 2020
In a first-of-its-kind decision, NJL non-compete litigator Katie Connolly convinced a Minnesota federal court to apply a novel advice-of-counsel defense to an employer’s hiring of an individual with a non-compete agreement.
Posted March 1, 2020 with Tags The Equal Pay Advisor
Check out this 2-minute video on what's going on with EEO-1 reporting.
Posted February 28, 2020
The Minnesota legislature is currently considering HF 3673, which purports to ban all non-compete agreements with all employees, and may also ban all customer non-solicit and non-disclosure agreements. The language of the bill—which currently has 30 co-sponsors—is confusing and internally contradictory, so its progress through the legislative process warrants close watching.
Posted December 6, 2019
The American Bar Association just issued an opinion about what lawyers and law firms can and should do when lawyers move from one firm to another. A key point of the opinion is that, according to the ABA, “ethics rules do not allow non-competition clauses in partnership, member, shareholder, or employment agreements” among attorneys. Remember, though, that these rules may not be the ultimate authority in the in-house counsel context.
Posted January 18, 2019 with Tags Katie Connolly, noncompete agreements, freedom to compete act, trade secrets, noncompete lawyers, trade secret lawyers
In reaction to the recent proliferation of non-compete agreements, courts and legislatures are increasingly trying to find ways to limit their use. The latest attempt is at the federal congressional level. This week, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced the “Freedom to Compete Act” aimed at prohibiting non-compete agreements for lower wage workers. The Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to ban non-competes for most non-exempt workers.
Posted July 9, 2018
Eleven attorneys from NJL have been selected to the 2016 Minnesota Super Lawyers list. Seven attorneys from NJL have been selected to the 2016 Minnesota Rising Stars list.
Posted August 15, 2017 with Tags non-compete law, tortious interference claim, Katie Connolly
The Scenario: Your company has a great applicant for a job opening, Jane, but you learn during the interview process that Jane signed a non-compete agreement with her current employer. You can quickly spot some reasons why the non-compete is unenforceable. You acknowledge there is some risk in hiring Jane, though, including that her current employer may sue Jane for breaching the contract and your company for interfering with her contract—a tortious interference claim. So, now what? Setting aside Jane and her own legal risks, what specific steps should you take to set up your best defense to a claim that your company interfered with Jane’s contract?
Posted March 28, 2017
A recent Minnesota Court of Appeals decision reiterates the need for employers to provide a guaranteed benefit rather than an opportunity to receive a benefit in a post-employment restrictive covenant. In The Valspar Corp. v. Mueller, the Minnesota Court of …
Posted March 28, 2017
The days of the “company man” are seemingly over. Employees are changing jobs faster and more often, and that means their knowledge – and potential trade secrets – are leaving with them. In response, employers are using non-competes more and …
Posted July 5, 2016
Eleven attorneys from NJL have been selected to the 2016 Minnesota Super Lawyers list. Seven attorneys from NJL have been selected to the 2016 Minnesota Rising Stars list.
Posted May 13, 2016
Unlike most intellectual property matters, which are protected by federal law, trade secrets have historically been the domain of states. However, new provisions to the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) – just signed into law May 11 by President Obama - signal an important change to this landscape. By providing a federal civil action to protect trade secrets, these new provisions, which take effect immediately, create significant new possibilities for the enforceability of employer/employee agreements.
Posted April 4, 2016
Shareholders Amanda Cialkowski, Sandra Jezierski, and Tracy Van Steenburgh have been listed among the 2016 Women Super Lawyers list. Shareholder Katie Connolly, and associates Jen Cornell and Sarah Riskin have been listed among the 2016 Women Rising Stars list.
Posted September 28, 2015
Katie Connolly authored an article on illusory promises in non-competes for the Corporate Compliance Insights website.
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