Given recent developments and trends in the United States relating to restricted covenants (especially noncompetes), companies should take another look at any restrictive covenants included in equity award agreements.

In the past, companies rarely tailored restrictive covenants in equity award agreements to each jurisdiction (US states or countries outside the United States). Now, with so many new restrictions in the United States, it is more typical for companies to tailor the restrictive covenants for compliance with applicable US state law.

However, outside the United States, enforcing restrictive covenants in an award agreement is even more problematic, especially non-compete and non-solicitation covenants.

To learn more about the possible approaches companies can take to deal with restrictive covenants for employees outside the United States, read our recent NASPP guest blog post.

Author

Aimee Rosien is an associate in the Global Equity Services group in Baker McKenzie's San Francisco office. Her practice emphasizes the areas of international equity plans, executive compensation and employee benefits. She is a member of the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals and the Global Equity Organization. Ms. Rosien advises multinational companies in the implementation of their international equity compensation plans, including dealing with issues such as securities law compliance, data privacy, cross-border tax obligations, exchange control and labor law compliance.