Worker Commitment not to Compete with the Employer Between Legislation and Judicial Precedent

Abstract

The general rule that is “pacta sunt servanda” in Latin which means “Contract is the judge between contractors”, and that each party to the contract has the right to agreement with the other party in the development of conditions that consent to them, and they have agreed that the conditions will not be void and be in accordance with the law and that they are not contrary to the Constitution, especially employment contracts, as of this contract that arranges obligations on both the employer and the worker, in which both parties could agree on the non-competition clause on the basis of article (818) and (819) of the Jordanian civil Code, but this agreement is considered a restriction on the worker freedom and collides with Article (23) of the Jordanian Constitution, Article (23 ) of the Universal Declaration of human rights and Article (4) of the Jordanian labor law.Therefore, when applying this agreement, it must to be taken into account that  it is a restriction on the worker freedom, also it is an exceptional rule set for the legitimate interest of the employer, based on the condition that it will not restrict the worker freedom and it will not refrain the worker rights from work as a result of this condition; in return worker should be compensated in some conditions and the court should have a role in the agreement and its interpretation restrictively to the worker interest, so we can limit the spread of unemployment, since  many professions, trades and industries are not considered hard to obtain secrets, due to the advancement in sciense and technology, and the easy ways to get it.

Keywords:  obligation, legislation, employment, court, agreement

DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/87-10

Publication date:July 31^st 2019