Labour market restrictions: distorting supply and demand or protecting investments and trade secrets?

In today’s business landscape, companies often struggle with finding the right balance between protecting their interests and ensuring compliance with the increasingly complicated legal requirements. Competition law encourages companies to safeguard their trade secrets and investments in employees through restrictions in employment agreements. Conversely, employment law tends to protect the employees’ freedom of speech and right to free movement, setting forth strict rules for any restrictive covenants. So, where does this leave businesses?

Consider this scenario, often troubling companies that come to us for advice: You have a highly valuable employee in whom you’ve invested significant resources. The employee knows everything about your company, including all the trade secrets. This employee is now crucial to a new client project, yet the basic employment agreement you used years ago when you hired the employee lacks necessary protections like non-compete clauses. Your client rejects your proposal for a non-solicitation clause, citing competition law concerns. Are your only options to either not service this client or to accept the risk that the client may recruit your employee?

Join our webinar at 10 am on 8 October 2024, where we’ll explore these issues and the complex landscape of labour market restrictions in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Our experts together with representatives of competition authorities will discuss how to navigate challenges to balance the interests of employers, employees and the general public.

What you will learn: 

• Recognising the conflict: Gain an understanding of the tension between competition law and employment law, and its impact on your business.
• Protecting your interests: Learn what tools might be possible under competition and employment law to protect your investments in employee training and confidential information.
• Getting legal insights: Get expert advice on creating effective employment agreements that comply with legal standards.
• Facing real-world scenarios: Explore practical examples and case studies relevant to the Baltic region.

This webinar is particularly relevant for companies with valuable employees or those who struggle with competitors, suppliers, or clients looking to restrict employee mobility or wages. Everyone in your organisation responsible for protecting employer interests (be it executives, HR professionals, in-house legal counsels, or compliance officers) will likely benefit from this webinar.

Webinar materials

Audio format is available on the podcast platform.

Webinar recording is available on our Youtube channel.

See the “Different types of labour market restrictions: competition law leaves very little room for lawful labour market restrictions between employers” presentation by Auridas Litvinas, Competition law expert at Sorainen Lithuania, here.

See the “Economic perspective: why are employers interested in labour market restrictions?” presentation by Kalle Kantanen, Senior economist at Copenhagen Economics, here.