Do Employers Need to Give Employees Consideration for Non-Competes in Georgia?

Clients often ask whether they need to provide any consideration to their existing employees when they ask their employees to sign non-compete or non-solicitation agreements. The answer in Georgia typically is that continued employment is sufficient consideration for such an agreement. (The answer is different in Texas and North Carolina, for example.) Glisson v. Global Security Services, LLC, Georgia Court of Appeals, No. A07A1456, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 1047 ( Sept. 25, 2007), however, reminds us that this is not a universal rule. In that case, William Glisson entered into a two-year employment contract with his employer, Global Security Services. The agreement contained a non-compete provision, as well as a two-year term for employment. Approximately eighteen months after entering the agreement, GSS requested that Glisson sign a more extensive, non-competition agreement. Glisson did so, but shortly thereafter left GSS and formed a competing business. GSS brought an action against Glisson under the second non-compete provision that Glisson had signed.

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