contract-law international non-compete
Validity of non-compete clause across several countries
<p>I'm a resident of a south american country, working remotely for an US company, which I'm going to call "the client". </p>

<p>I've signed a contract with a firm through which I work for "the client". Let's call this company "the contractor" company.</p>

<p>Both companies are US based.</p>

<p>On my contract there's a non compete clause (I'm translating this, since the original is not in English. Please ask for further clarification if the precise wording matters):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>During the validity of the present agreement and during the period of
  the following 24 months to its termination under any circumstance, the
  "provider" (me) can't directly or indirectly solicit, interfere, or
  try to lure, alone or in a partnership or any other company or
  organization any "client" from company X with which he's been involved
  through any service lent through this agreement.  If any of these
  items is not met, the "provider" has to pay company X 20k USD</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Now, the situation is that "the client" has offered me a full time position in an office in Ireland. If I decide to take that offer, would that incur in a breach of that term? </p>

<p>Is this something that they can enforce on a different country? </p>

<p>The amount is not something that "the client" wouldn't want to pay for the transfer, but it would be nice to avoid having any trouble.</p>

<p>If you did not "directly or indirectly solicit, interfere, or try to lure, alone or in a partnership or any other company or organization" the job then you are not in breach. This means that you must have never suggested to the client in any way that you would be open to working for them directly - that is, their job offer to you is entirely on their own initiative.</p>

<p>Yes, these can be enforced in different countries.</p>

<p>The best option is to point this clause out to the client and have them approach the contractor and agree on a transfer fee -  one month's salary is pretty typical for these types of things but if the client is a good client and you have been working for several months the contractor may waive this entirely.</p>
