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How a Demotion Can Be Deemed a Breach of Employment Agreement Under NY Law

Consider the following hypothetical scenario: Jim is hired by ABC Stores as Executive VP of Sales and Marketing. His 3-year employment contract states that all managers at ABC’s stores are required to coordinate their in-store marketing efforts through him, including securing his approval of all vendors.
Six months later, ABC brings in its CFO’s son Peter [...]

When NY Employers Condition Receipt of Post-Employment Benefits on a Non-Compete

As you may be aware, it has become increasingly common for employers to condition their employees’ receipt of post-employment benefits upon the employees’ agreement to abide by a strict non-compete clause.  So here’s the question (which, unfortunately, occurs altogether too frequently): what if the non-compete is unreasonably and unduly restrictive (i.e., prevents you from [...]

How to Win the Breach of a Severance Agreement Case in New York

It seems to me that many people are under the impression that your hands are completely tied, and you have no immediate recourse to the New York State courts if your former employer breaches your severance agreement. While in many cases, e.g., where the severance plan is governed by ERISA (in which case a common [...]

How to Prove Employer Negligence for an Employee’s Bad Acts Under NY Law

As noted in my article “How NY Employee’s Bad Act Can Lead to Finding of Employer Negligence,” there is a doctrine in New York which holds that under certain circumstances, an employer can be held liable for its employees acts – even where those acts were clearly not undertaken in furtherance of the employer’s interests. [...]

Is My Non-Compete Agreement Enforceable Under New York law?

In the wake of the massive layoffs of the last few years, I’ve been asked this question an awful lot. Fortunately, the Court of Appeals – New York State’s highest court, has written rather extensively on the subject. In my view, here are the most pertinent parts:
“A restraint is reasonable only if it: (1) is [...]