Mass Non-Compete Law Does Not Apply to Non-Solicitation Agreement

Massachusetts law on non-compete agreements requires post-termination payments. A company signed a non-compete agreement and a nonsolicitation agreement with an employee. After the employee left, the company stopped payments, citing a violation of the nonsolicitation agreement portion of the agreement. The employee argued that payments could not be stopped because doing so would violate the statute on non-compete agreements. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT... The court noted that no solicitation agreements were excluded from the non-competition agreement statute. Therefore, forfeiting benefits for violating the no-solicitation agreement does not violate the statute that prohibits forfeiture of non-competition payments.