Employers often place limitations on their employees’ ability to compete following the termination of the employment relationship. The justification for restraints on trade is that employers have a protectable interest in their customer and vendor relationships, the goodwill associated with their brand, and their confidential information and trade secrets. Purchasers of businesses likewise often place limitations on sellers’ ability to compete in the same industry after an acquisition. These limitations can be critical to ensure…

An employee’s termination date – that is, the date the employee quits or is fired – may be critical to determining when his non-competition obligations expire. Under Louisiana law, a non-competition agreement may not “exceed a period of two years from termination of employment.” La. R.S. 23:921(C). This rule was recently applied by the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal in Smith v. Commercial Flooring Gulf Coast, L.L.C., 2019-0502 (La. App. 4 Cir 10/09/19).…