## Facts

- Lake Land Employment Group of Akron, LLC operated a staffing/employment agency in Akron, Ohio.
- Lee Columber worked for Lake Land as an at-will employee from 1988 until 2001.
- In 1991, about three years after hiring, Lake Land presented Columber with a written noncompetition agreement; he signed it.
- The trial court found Columber received no raise, benefits, or other compensation tied to signing, and his employment status did not change.
- The agreement barred Columber, for three years after termination, from engaging in a competing business within a 50-mile radius of Akron.
- Columber continued working for roughly ten years after signing the agreement.
- After his employment ended in 2001, Columber formed a corporation operating a similar business within the restricted area.
- Lake Land sued for damages and injunctive relief for breach of the noncompetition agreement.

## Issues

1. Whether continued at-will employment constitutes sufficient consideration for a noncompetition agreement executed after employment has begun.
2. If consideration exists, whether enforceability still depends on the covenant’s reasonableness under Ohio law.

## Decision

- The Ohio Supreme Court held that consideration exists when an at-will employee assents to a noncompete and the employer continues the at-will employment relationship that could otherwise be terminated without cause.
- The court reversed the court of appeals’ judgment affirming summary judgment for Columber.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings, including determination of the reasonableness of the agreement’s restrictions and any remaining issues.

## Legal Principles

- Consideration for a post-hire noncompetition agreement can be supplied by the employer’s forbearance from immediately terminating an at-will employee after the employee assents.
- A noncompetition agreement signed during an at-will relationship is treated as a modification of that relationship, supported by the employer’s continued employment of the employee.
- The presence of consideration does not alone make a restrictive covenant enforceable; it must also have reasonable temporal and geographic limits that protect legitimate employer interests without imposing undue hardship on the employee or harming the public.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that an employer’s continuation of an at-will employment relationship can supply consideration for a noncompetition agreement presented after hiring, but the agreement’s enforceability still turns on a separate, fact-specific reasonableness analysis on remand.


Lake Land Emp. Grp. of Akron, LLC v. Columber, 101 Ohio St. 3d 242, 804 N.E.2d 27 (Ohio 2004)