On November 22, 2011, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided Howard v. Nitro-Lift Technologies, L.L.C., which could impact existing agreements with employees containing noncompetition and nonsolicitation provisions that restrict an employee’s ability to compete with the employer after the employee separates from employment. As a result of this case, we highly recommend that employers revisit past agreements containing noncompetition or nonsolicitation provisions.

The applicable statute governing these types of agreements is 15 Okla. Stat. § 219A. Section 219A provides that where an employee has executed a covenant not to compete with the employer, the employee “shall be permitted to engage in the same business as that conducted by the former employer as long as the former employee does not directly solicit the sale of goods, services or a combination of goods or services from the ‘established customer’ of the former employer.” The statute then provides that any provision in a contract between an employer and employee in conflict with the mandate of Section 219A “shall be void and unenforceable.”