This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Matthew Browning tries to make a case for noncompete agreements in his Feb. 16 op-ed. Utah should ensure, however, employees have the right to continue to earn a living in their profession after they leave a company. If a chemist or a computer scientist works for a company under a typical two-year noncompete agreement, how does Browning suggest they earn a living and still maintain their skills during that period?
Browning might say former employees could take secret information with them. Protect it with a nondisclosure agreement, not a noncompete contract.
An employer might also say it trained an employee, so it's unfair for that person to quit and start a competitive business. Yet that's how the semiconductor business started and blossomed. Look at the genesis of Intel, for example. People came and went and spawned other companies. We are better off with more competition, not less.
Jon Titus
Herriman