- Jurisdiction
- Washington
I left my job a couple of months ago that I had signed a non-competition agreement with. However, it lists an exception in the agreement that is also the same exception discussed in the WA law.
As far as I understand the exception, the law says that the non-compete doesn't count when wages are below a certain threshold. But I wanted to confirm if anyone understands better how these things work.
Here is the main exception clause from the agreement:
This Section 4.1 will only apply if Employee earns more money than the threshold established by Washington law (RCW 49.62.040). As of January 1, 2020, that threshold is $100,000 per year.
Section 4.1 outlines the non-compete rules, which I didn't quote here because it's another paragraph.
WA state guidelines say the non-compete threshold is $120,559.99 for 2024 for employees (I was an employee).
When I left in February I earned about 67k per year, so that would've probably been my final salary for 2024. But does it take into account stock value? Or is this rule only applying to the salary/wage?
If stocks apply, then I think I'm still under the threshold using the last known value of my portfolio. But what if the stock value changes so that earnings + stock value went past the threshold? Or does 401K count too?
Also, do you have to earn over that threshold at the time of leaving, or is it the eventual yearly value, or is it based on previous year? For example, my 67k salary was about 5583 per month. I worked all of January but left in February. So I only earned part of the salary for this year. Either way in terms of wages/salary I never earned more than 100K in my previous role even with some extra income from vested RSU sales.
I was offered a job this week with a competitor, but doing different type of work. It's literally just grocery retail work.
There's nothing in the law that mentions stocks or other assets, so I was hoping that someone could clarify.
As far as I understand the exception, the law says that the non-compete doesn't count when wages are below a certain threshold. But I wanted to confirm if anyone understands better how these things work.
Here is the main exception clause from the agreement:
This Section 4.1 will only apply if Employee earns more money than the threshold established by Washington law (RCW 49.62.040). As of January 1, 2020, that threshold is $100,000 per year.
Section 4.1 outlines the non-compete rules, which I didn't quote here because it's another paragraph.
WA state guidelines say the non-compete threshold is $120,559.99 for 2024 for employees (I was an employee).
When I left in February I earned about 67k per year, so that would've probably been my final salary for 2024. But does it take into account stock value? Or is this rule only applying to the salary/wage?
If stocks apply, then I think I'm still under the threshold using the last known value of my portfolio. But what if the stock value changes so that earnings + stock value went past the threshold? Or does 401K count too?
Also, do you have to earn over that threshold at the time of leaving, or is it the eventual yearly value, or is it based on previous year? For example, my 67k salary was about 5583 per month. I worked all of January but left in February. So I only earned part of the salary for this year. Either way in terms of wages/salary I never earned more than 100K in my previous role even with some extra income from vested RSU sales.
I was offered a job this week with a competitor, but doing different type of work. It's literally just grocery retail work.
There's nothing in the law that mentions stocks or other assets, so I was hoping that someone could clarify.