論勞工離職後競業禁止約定中正當營業利益之保護要件－－以客戶關係為例

Discussion of The Criteria of Legitimate Operating Profit Under the NonCompete Agreement Of PostEmployment: Taking the Customer Relations as an Example

離職後競業禁止約定中雇主應受保護之正當營業利益是否僅限於營業秘密，不論是在勞基法第9條之1增訂前後都存在爭議，而有釐清之必要。本文以無法完全被營業秘密概念涵蓋之「客戶關係」為例，探討離職後競業禁止約定保護的正當營業利益，是否僅限於營業秘密，以期對於勞基法第9條之適用提出建議。結論上，本文認為只要雇主能夠證明客戶關係確實帶給雇主競爭優勢，且勞工的職位對於客戶有足夠影響力，讓客戶在勞工離職後流失，客戶關係即有受到離職後競業禁止約定保護的必要，離職後競業禁止約定應得通過勞基法的9條之1第1項第1、2款的檢驗。

Even after the amendment of Article 9-1 of the Labor Standards Act, it still remains controversial whether employer’s legitimate operating profit only includes trade secret under the non-compete agreement of post-employment. This article, taking the “customer relations (which cannot be fully covered by the concept of trade secret)” as an example to discuss whether the legitimate operating profit under such agreement only includes trade secrets, aiming to propose suggestions for the application of Article 9. Theoretically, this author opined that customer relations shall be protected by the non-compete agreement of post-employment if the employer could prove such relations really provide employers with competitive advantages and the laborer’s role has adequate influence over customers, who’ll leave when the laborer resigns. Also, the non-compete agreement of postemployment shall meet the review standards of Paragraph 1 and 2, Subparagraph 1, Article 9-1 of the said Act.