California has a strong public policy against restricting the ability of an employee to move from one job to another, and instead favors employee mobility and open competition. This policy is codified in California Business and Professions Code §16600. Section 16600 provides that every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind is to that extent void. In 2008, in Edwards v. Arthur Andersen, 44 Cal.4th 937, the California Supreme Court clarified the scope of §16600 by holding that “§16600 embodies the original strict common law antipathy toward restraints of trade, while §§16601 and 16602 exceptions incorporated the later common law ‘rule of reasonableness’ in instances where those exceptions apply.”
While Edwards dealt with the enforceability of a noncompete agreement, which, among other things, prevented an employee from performing professional services of the type he had provided at his previous employer for some of his previous employer’s clients, the court’s ruling likely provides some insight into how it will treat any agreement that falls within the scope of §16600, including noninterference provisions.
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