Impact | Business Risk Management Blog

In a somewhat unusual move, the state of Illinois has filed a complaint against Check Into Cash of Illinois, Inc., on behalf of the citizens of the state, seeking a declaration that the non-competition covenants that the company requires its employees to sign are unenforceable and violate the Illinois Freedom to Work Act, 820 ILCS 90/1.

An Illinois federal judge’s recent decision continues a trend toward supporting a “totality of the circumstances” approach to the enforcement of restrictive covenants.

In Stericycle, Inc. v. Simota, et al., 2017 WL 4742197, the defendants moved to dismiss plaintiff’s breach of contract claims arguing that 13 months of continued employment was inadequate consideration to enforce certain restrictive covenants. Following the majority of federal judges that have considered this issue in Illinois, Judge John J. Tharp found that if confronted with the issue, the Illinois Supreme Court would reject a bright line rule of two years of continued employment and apply a fact-specific approach in assessing consideration. Using this approach, Judge Tharp found that 13 months of continued employment was adequate consideration to support the enforcement of the restrictive covenants.