Enshrining Non-Solicitation and Non-Competition Doctrines within Employment Agreement Provisions
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Abstract
The contemporary industrial relations paradigm exhibits a normative clash between corporate commercial asset protection and workers' constitutional mobility rights through post-employment restraints. This study examines the validity and legal consequences of cumulative non-solicitation and non-competition clauses within Indonesian employment contracts. Employing normative legal research utilizing statutory and conceptual approaches, this research analyzes the enforceability of contractual restrictions. The results demonstrate that imposing these restrictive clauses without geographic limitations, temporal boundaries, or mandatory financial compensation violates the objective requirement of a lawful cause under Article 1320 of the Indonesian Civil Code. Consequently, these unilateral standard clauses are entirely null and void, as they contravene public order and fundamental labor rights. In conclusion, this article proposes the urgent judicial integration of a proportionality test encompassing temporal, spatial, substantive, and financial compensation parameters for industrial relations courts to restore the legal equilibrium between absolute corporate prerogatives and workers' inalienable essential constitutional employment freedoms.
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