At Jimmy John's, all employees must sign a strict, 'oppressive' non-compete agreement

At Jimmy John's, all employees must sign a strict, 'oppressive' non-compete agreement
(Image credit: Facebook.com/JimmyJohns)

When new employees start at the sandwich chain Jimmy John's, they must sign an agreement with a non-compete clause that one worker who recently filed suit against the company calls "oppressive."

The clause not only keeps an employee from working at places like Subway for two years, The Huffington Post reports, but also any business within three miles of a Jimmy John's location that receives 10 percent of its revenue from sandwiches (including, but not limited to, "submarine, hero-type, deli-style, pita and/or wrapped or rolled sandwiches"). It's not uncommon for a business to have executives and managers sign a non-compete agreement to keep them from spilling company secrets to a competitor, but at Jimmy John's everyone — including delivery drivers and sandwich makers — has to sign.

This summer, the non-compete agreement became part of a class-action lawsuit filed against Jimmy John's and one of its franchise owners, and another lawsuit by a Jimmy John's employee argued that the agreement is too broad and "oppressive." Attorney Kathleen Chavez told The Huffington Post that if the agreement is enforced, it creates a blackout zone that consists of 6,000 square miles in 44 states and the District of Columbia. "It is disturbing this document is being used and it is our position that it has broad impact on thousands of employees," she said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.