The plaintiff, a former senior employee of the company had requested the court to say whether a post employment clause restraining him working from a competitor was valid. The employer now appealed.
Held: The appeal failed. The clause was too wide, restraining the former employee working for a competitor anywhere in the UK.
Lord Denning MR said: on that short ground (but it is a decisive ground) of geographical area it seems to me that this covenant is too wide and is on that account invalid, and I would support the judge’s judgment on the simple ground on which he made a declaration that the covenant is invalid.’
Lord Denning MR, Shaw, Waller LJJ
[1979] IRLR 445, [1978] EWCA Civ 8
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.262691