Can we legally prevent a sales team member to take clients when he/she leaves our startup?

Question

We are a startup from France with business over France, UK and US. I would like to ask the question regarding sales team hiring policy. What is the best way to legally prevent a sales associate to take with him/her the clients when he/she leaves our company? Is this possible at all? How should we put this in our contracts? Thank you very much!

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Answers: 2 public & 1 private

8a416533c2
Patent Attorney

I would advice contacting a French lawyer on the topic, but as far as I know French law allows such clauses, provided there is a financial compensation.

I.e. the contract may indicate something like "the company A reserves the right to prevent Mr. X from working with competitors or company's customers for Y months, should the company A decide to exercise this right, a compensation Z will be paid to Mr. X".

As I remember, without the explicit compensation, this clause will not be valid in France. Also, the compensation must be a certain percentage of the salary, i.e. 1€/month won't do.

This is what I remember from my time in France, a local lawyer will certainly advice you more precisely.

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