It probably comes as no surprise that Trump's noncompete agreement sucks and is woefully inadequate. Once you wade past the grammatical errors, the contract contains the typical, rote litany of promises not to disclose any "confidential information," not to disparage Trump, not to solicit anyone associated with Trump, and not to provide "competitive services. Absolutely no one is shocked that he has campaign workers sign these.
But given that this is not really a business agreement, and really a political one, let's try to apply some of the utterly inane provisions in this contract to the general legal principles we've come to understand.
- The non-disclosure covenant. The longest provision of Trump's contract is a non-disclosure clause, which surprises absolutely no one. It has no time limitation, which is a red flag in many states and would render it unenforceable, for instance, against a campaign worker/volunteer in Illinois. (Incidentally, not sure who in the Trump campaign exactly signs this piece of paper, but given what we know, presume everyone.) The definition of "Confidential Information" is truly rich since it is circular in that it applies to all information of a "private, proprietary or confidential nature." Then it goes further and applies to information "that Mr. Trump insists remain private or confidential." With that qualifier, the mind truly reels. As you might expect, it gets better. If Mr. Trump so elects, confidential information can extend to "any information with respect to the personal life, political affairs, and/or business affairs of Mr. Trump." There are no carve-outs for information that is within the public domain so it may be hollow, but it is worth noting that Mr. Trump includes as non-exclusive examples of "Confidential Information" such idiotic categories like his relationships (a voter interviewed on Comedy Central?), alliances (Sarah Palin?), decisions (to build a wall?), strategies ("....."), and meetings ("Sept. 26 Debate against H. Clinton"). Unenforceable.
- Non-disparagement. Predictably, this too is a real beauty. Trump requires that anyone working on his campaign never "disparage publicly" Mr. Trump. Hypothetically, if he is elected President and it's a disaster, a former campaign worker could not criticize his term in office. It also applies to any Family Member of Trump, including his children. So if you work on Trump's campaign, and Tiffany Trump's singing career does not go great, you cannot criticize her on Twitter. Unenforceable and non-sensical.
- Non-solicitation. This one, actually, is hard to read. The Trump campaign has no customers, unless you consider a voter a customer. So it smartly leaves that term out. But a campaign worker may not solicit another worker "for hiring" until the campaign is over. So if you're a Trump campaign worker and meet another campaign worker, you cannot hire him/her for any type of work until the campaign is over, even if that work has nothing to do with politics. Unenforceable and almost incoherent.
- Non-compete. The best for last. A Trump campaign worker cannot assist anyone for federal or state office besides Trump, whether for compensation or as a volunteer. Therefore, a campaign worker cannot contribute to a candidate for state representative. He or she cannot host an event for that person. He or she cannot put out a yard sign for that person. And he or she cannot seek to encourage another voter to vote for that person. Unenforceable and just plain idiotic.
On the upside, you get an arbitration clause, a favorable New York choice-of-law clause, and the possibility of fee-shifting if you prevail. Plus, and this is truly priceless, you get a piece of paper with the signature of the one and only "Donald J. Trump, President." Presumably, of his campaign and not the entire United States.
A copy of the Trump non-compete is available on my Scribd site here.
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