Restraint of Trade against a member of a cc

[Onweb]

Hi Kewlcat
In 2001 - I know it's awhile ago but maybe you will find my experience to be of interest - I managed a branch of a national personnel agency in port elizabeth. All of the staff signed a mandatory two year restraint. One of the consultants resigned to join a competitor and so of course the whole legal machinery went to work. The end result was that it took the agency 23 months to get a court ruling. The court decided that she was in breach of the restraint - which she clearly was as she directly approached her old client base - and that she was not allowed to work for a competitior until her restraint was up. Did you notice that it took 23 months to get this ruling on a 24 month restraint? So even though the agency 'won', it came at a price in excess of R200000-00 for legal fees ( don't forget this was in 2001) and that is not taking all of the man hours into account, nor the travel expenses, staff morale - we won't even go there - etc. And what did we win? She sat at home for one month while the time period of the restraint played out and then went back to work. So in my opinion a restraint isn't worth the paper it is written on. I might also say that the only reason we did win was because she had been a secretary before she joined as us a personnel consultant. This was relevant as the court decided she did have other skills.
Good luck! It is never pleasant to be in that sort of conflict situation
Kind regards
Chantell

[Dave A]

And what did we win? She sat at home for one month while the time period of the restraint played out and then went back to work.

You didn't sue for damages?