The situation
A departing employee’s contracts with non-compete clauses, uploaded
A sales director is leaving a Rotterdam maker of warehouse software for a competitor in Hamburg. She has two contracts: a fixed-term contract with the Dutch company containing a 12-month non-compete, and one with the German subsidiary for the DACH region with a two-year non-compete that says nothing about compensation. The client wants to know whether either clause holds before it sends a warning letter.
The clauses are a page long. The answer is in the case law: how Dutch courts treat non-competes in fixed-term contracts, and what German courts do with a clause that promises no compensation. The hours go on reading enough decisions to give a firm view, then writing it up.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Netherlands: writing, and a reason in fixed terms
- A Dutch non-compete must be agreed in writing with an adult employee. In a fixed-term contract it is void unless the clause itself states the compelling business interests that require it.
- Netherlands: the court can moderate
- Even a valid clause can be set aside wholly or partly by a Dutch court if the employee is unfairly disadvantaged compared with the employer’s interest. Courts weigh duration, scope and the new role.
- Germany: compensation is a condition
- A post-contractual non-compete for an employee must be in writing, may last at most two years and must promise compensation of at least half the last contractual remuneration for each year. Without a compensation promise, the clause does not bind the employee.
- Apply the right law to each contract
- Under the Rome I Regulation, an employee keeps the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where she habitually works, whatever law the contract chooses. The memo should settle that per contract first.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Fixed-term Dutch employment contract with a 12-month non-compete and no stated business interest; separate German contract with a two-year non-compete and no compensation clause. Employee joins a competitor in Hamburg. Is either clause enforceable, and what are the leading decisions?
You start with
A departing employee’s contracts with non-compete clauses, uploaded
- 01
Upload both contracts
Add the Dutch and German contracts and any side letters. azta reads them and refers back to the clause it relied on.
File upload· Pro - 02
Find the decisions
Ask how Dutch courts treat non-competes in fixed-term contracts without a stated reason, and how German courts treat a clause with no compensation. azta links each decision to its full text.
Case-law search - 03
Write the memo
Ask for a memo per clause: governing law, validity, likely outcome and what the client can do. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Export for the client
Export to Word and add your recommendation on the warning letter.
Word export· Pro You send
An enforceability memo on each clause, with the case law
What you get
An enforceability memo on each clause, with the case law
Enforceability memo · draft
Non-compete clauses of the departing sales director
Dutch contract. The contract is fixed-term and the non-compete does not state the compelling business interests behind it. On the decisions reviewed, the clause is very likely void. A warning letter based on it would carry little weight.
German contract. The clause contains no promise of compensation. On the decisions reviewed, the employee is not bound by it. Whether offering compensation now could still bind her is doubtful and is addressed in Section 3.
Recommendation. Rather than a non-compete warning, we suggest a letter reminding her of her confidentiality obligations and of the client’s rights in its customer data, which do not depend on either clause.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
8 minutes a month
At €210 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 49
- Capacity at your rate
- €10,206
- More non-compete memos a quarter
- 2.2
- Return on Pro
- 31.5×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- wetten.overheid.nl
- Rechtspraak.nl
- Gesetze im Internet
- Rechtsprechung im Internet
What stays with you
- The facts of the new role and what she actually knows.
- The strategy toward the employee and her new employer.
- The advice you sign.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta search Dutch and German labour court decisions?
- Yes, from the published case-law collections in its source register. Coverage varies by country; the register lists each collection.
- Can it draft the warning letter too?
- Yes. Ask for the letter in Canvas once you have decided the position, and edit it before it goes out.
- Does it decide whether the clause is enforceable?
- No. It sets out the rules and the decisions, cited. The view you give the client is yours.
