This is my first post. Please excuse any errors. I am in Central Illinois

I have been in the plumbing and heating wholesale supply business all my life ( approx 30 years) I had an opportunity to work for a manufacture's representative who had very good lines, quit my job and went to work for them in December 2003. I did not officially start after I left my previous job and it was about 3 weeks in-between. The first day there was a normal one of signing different things for health insurance, going over company policy, etc. The VERY LAST thing was an "oh, by the way. You need to sign this non-compete contract. If you ever leave here you can't work for anyone who is a customer, plumbing contractor or wholesale company. You can take it to a lawyer if you want but if you don't sign it you're not going to work here anyway."

At that point, I really did not have a choice considering I had left my job and signed it. Besides, I felt there would be no problems. After all, they had pursued me and I left another job to come with them.

The "newness" to the employer wore off almost immediately. It was almost as if he had got what he wanted and now he could do anything he wanted. I was to call on plumbers, wholesale companies and engineers in an 80-100 mile radius. He said that he expected me to be in the territory I was calling on at 8 am regardless of how far it was from my home. He also expected me to make at least 6 calls per day. He also did not want me to leave the area until after 4 pm. (the furthest I had to drive was 2 1/2 hours away. I was also supposed to fill out store reports when I called on a retail business, fill out return forms, send in a schedule weekly showing what town I was going to be in on a given day and also send in a call report weekly that showed basically the important details of a call on a customer. I also had to call in every day between 11 and 1 to check in to see if anyone needed me.

The job ended up taking on a great deal more of territory and customers, than I was originally told. The hours I was spending was usually a minimum of 50-55 and sometimes 60 hours a week. I found it difficult to get everything done that he asked for ( sometimes one retail call would take up to 2-21/2 hours alone) I tried to prioritize the best that I could, putting the customers and face to face calls first. The most difficult thing for me to do was to turn in a completed call report from the prior week, on Monday morning.

After I was late a couple of times, I received a written letter of reprimand (In March) at that time, we sat down and talked about it and I explained my time difficulty. I asked for time off the road of at least a half a day a week to be able to take the time then to get them done on time. He refused, saying that I cost him $100 hour and it was essential that I used all of my time for "face to face" contact with customers. He decided to give me an old fax machine so that I could fax them on Sunday night.

I struggled on but was able to keep up with things most of the time. The fax machine helped and gave me quick contact instead of relying on the mail. I still was late a couple of times and let him know beforehand so that he would not be expecting them. I had learned from the office manager, what the most important reports to have in were and what time frame was needed. I was always on time with these reports as well as my schedule. The only thing that lagged behind was the call report details which consisted mostly of things that we had already talked about during the week.

The fax machine broke 2 months later and he refused to replace it saying that I would just have to find another way to get them in on time. (Total "paper" generated per week were sometimes 20-25 pages including return reports) Again, I struggled on and was not able to keep up another couple times. (letting him know in advance each time) I got a second typewritten letter of warning about 2 months later. We sat down and discussed this and I promised that I would try and do things differently so that I could get them done. I also asked for "office time" again to do them because it was difficult trying to do them in the car- he refused.

It should be noted that in each of his letters of reprimand, he would refer to ALL of the reports as being late, which was untrue. When I brought this up he would check with the office manager and either found that the office manager had taken the reports out prior to giving them to him so that they could be processed or that I had faxed the essential reports in during the week while I was at the location so that they would be there on time, rather than wait for them to be included with my weekly reports. This didn't seem to make any difference to him that the reports were not actually late.

On September 30th, I was asked to come in to the office on the way to the city I was going to for the day and was terminated for "insubordination" and again referenced that my reports had been late. I asked what reports he was referring to and he said that “I must have some late because he had not received any since September 10th. The two weeks prior to my termination at his direction, I spent setting up new faucet displays at two different cities. These were 1-2 day full time projects in themselves. One was 3 hours away from my home and I had to be there at 8 am on a Monday morning. These took a tremendous amount of time and caused about a 70 hour work week on the last week prior to termination. It also caused me to be late on my "call" reports but all other reports were in on time. I also had 2-3 "sales" meetings at the office during this period.

Now I am fighting to get unemployment because in the State of Illinois you cannot get unemployment if you have been terminated. I cannot work for anyone in the plumbing business because of the non-compete agreement. (which he reminded me of in his last termination letter) I am about to loose my health insurance (at age 55) because I am unable to find employment to support myself. I am going through the appeal process with Job Services now. When I went back and looked at what "reports" he was referring to as being late were actually on time. The only one that WAS late for the week was the "call" reports which I had told him about and also let him know it was due to an unusually long week prior to this and that I had actually been out of town for 3 days of the week. What I can see, is that he "assumed" that the reports were late. I can document that the reasons for me being terminated were not valid and consider myself "wrongfully discharged"

I also need to mention that the "face to face" everyday customer contact that I maintained was excellent. I was well liked by the customers and perceived as a sales person who added value to their businesses. I never did anything wrong other than be late a few times on a minor report and always let them know in advance if I was going to be late and for what reason.

Where this also takes a strange turn, is that it is very evident to me, that the REAL reason I was terminated, is because his business was failing. During this time and before the end of the year, the company was going to lose the majority of their retail account base due to a situation beyond their controls. (You’re talking about major companies they were about to lose like Lowe's, Menards. Ace Hardware and many others) I think he used these minor problems I was having with "paperwork" ( which was about 1/2% of my TOTAL job) and building up an "excuse" over time to fire me so that he didn't have to pay unemployment. He has not replaced me to this date, either.

I am hoping to win my argument with the unemployment office and get at least some relief. I don't know how to fight the non-compete agreement that I feel I signed under duress. I am afraid to go to work for someone and 1. put them in a position that my former company might not give them good pricing, for retaliation 2. I don't want to hire an attorney to defend myself knowing that the non-compete stipulates for me to pay my former companies legal expenses also if they have to bring legal action against me. It would also be very embarrassing if I lost in court. (the agreement I signed does have a specific time and territory which I understand a judge would look for)
To make a long story short, I would like to sue the company for not only wrongful termination but also damage to my reputation, back wages, health insurance and compensation for all the grief that it has caused me personally.
I have learned that an "at will" employee in the State of Illinois does not have many rights.

I am hoping someone might be able to give me some direction on how I should proceed, what type of suit I should file and any other suggestions. I am at my whit's end with my hands tied and even unable to discuss this with any of my previous associations in the business. My career has been ruined and I am locked out of working in the business that I have worked in since 12 years old. I do not feel that I have done anything wrong and when I was reprimanded previously, I always tried to comply by trying to do things differently that might save time and enable me to get these reports in on time. (bought a voice recorder, changed the way I did my reports, etc). It's not like I just didn't try or didn't want to comply. I earnestly tried to do everything my employer asked but with unexpected LONG work weeks regularly, being on the road everyday in my car and not being allowed any office time to do my reports, it was overwhelming.

I'd very much appreciate anyone's input and I thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I wanted to be thorough so that all the facts are known.

THANK YOU!

Hey, I just joined today and choose to read yours.
It was some time ago and I was wondering how it turned out?
So many people read yours but didn't respond and it's probably because they didn't quite understand what being a rep is all about. I am also a rep in the security industry. I feel that since your non-compete didn't have a date/time limit - It should have been invalid. I would interested to know how you are doing.

Thanks for your reply. I can see why no one replied the first time- probably too much info. It has been a real challenge and an eyeopener on the way. I did not pursue fighting the contract because I was told by an attorney through prepaid legal that I would lose if challenged. Since I had to pay the employers legal fees too if I lost I decided to take the advice. They said the contract had both the things a court looks for- time and territory specified. So I am still learning what "I want to be when I grow up" all over again.

I did finally win unemployment after he fought me every appeal. Basically he was trying to claim that I was late on purpose to intentionally harm the company so he was using that as a basis to reject my unemployment. Thank goodness they saw through it but before it was done, I heard him tell bold face lies about me to them and also had the employees answer "in his favor" also. That kind of sucked because they "were" friends I thought but then again, here they are sitting right in the office next to a narcissistic employer who would fire them also if he wanted to.

Just wanted to give you a brief answer here. I have learned since this what I feel is the real reason he terminated me. He asked that might medical records and applications be sent to him originally so he could forward them to the group insurance company. I did not know this was illegal at the time and sent all my personal information which among other things shows that I have had depression for a number of years. I seemed to be set up shortly after that (using the information I provided to him in my call reports i.e.. Made a note for instance that I was not able to get on the road immediately one morning because I had to wait for an insurance adjuster to look at my company car that had been damaged by hail. Be careful how many details you provide on yours by the way)

In a short story I will be taking him to court over this and using it as a basis for my lawsuit. It was a Federal law that was broken and a person with depression is covered by the ADA. Lots more to it that I won't get into. Thanks for responding
Chuck

Hate to respond to a thread that is this long dead... but I see a few issues nobody ever addressed that can help others in the future.

This "Non-compete" clauses are at best difficult to enforce except in cases where a business is sold to prevent you from opening a new competing business across the street.

If you work for someone else... they can't prevent you from working in your industry, much less a competitor. And also... THEY broke that contract when they fired you... rendering any of those agreements unenfocible.

I've bounced back and forth between competitors over the last 30 years... and most people in my industry have as well. They try to pull that in employment agreements... I've never seen a single attempt to enforce it, much less any employer win in court preventing you from working in any single industry... much less for any particular employer.