竞业限制协议泛化背景下协议效力审查规则探究

Study on the Rules for the Review of Agreement Validity in the Context of the Generalization of Non-Competition Agreements

我国通常只针对掌握商业秘密的高级管理人员、高级技术人员和其他负有保密义务的员工实施竞业限制。然而,目前有部分企业随意扩大竞业协议适用主体,将限制措施无差别地应用于所有员工,打击了劳动者就业创业的积极性。法院在确认竞业限制协议效力时,面临立法和司法2个方面的问题。立法上,过于强调当事人之间的意思自治,法律规定不够明晰;司法上,法院往往倾向于维护用人单位的利益,呈现重形式审查而忽视实质审查的倾向。因此,为了有效规范竞业限制协议,重构协议效力的审查规则迫在眉睫。文章认为,应引入“合理性”审查标准,对协议的适用主体、期限、范围、经济补偿条款等方面进行实质性审查,以更好地平衡用人单位与劳动者之间的利益。

In China,non-competition restrictions are usually imposed on senior management personnel,senior technical personnel,and other employees with confidentiality obligations in possession of trade secrets.However,currently some companies arbitrarily expand the scope of non-competition agreements by imposing restrictions indiscriminately on all employees,which undermines the enthusiasm of workers' entrepreneurial efforts.When judging the effectiveness of non-competition agreements,the court faces legislative and judicial issues.On the one hand,the lack of clarity in legal provisions has led to an overemphasis on the autonomy of the parties involved;On the other hand,courts often inclined to uphold the interests of employers,showing a tendency to focus on formality at the expense of facts.Therefore,in order to effectively regulate non-competition agreements,it is imperative to reconstruct its review rules.It's argued that the “reasonableness” standard should be employed to review the applicable parties,terms,scope,and economic compensation clauses of the agreement,so as to better balance the interests between employers and workers.