Any solicitors about. Is this contract clause unfair?

[itsbetterthanabox]

I'm a beauty therapist.
New job has this in the contract I have not yet signed, under the heading 'Threading':
The employee is prohibited from trading in the beauty industry within 10 miles of and address of the employer for 12 months subsequent the termination of employment.
Is that referring only to threading? Is this legal? Our city is less than 10 miles wide! Is it saying I can't do my own job as a beauty therapist for a year after stopping working for them? They are a national company.
Thanks

Afaik a lot of non-compete clauses like this are totally worthless, especially where it isn't a rare skill and the exclusion zone is a wide area. The fact is that in the beauty business a lot of customers are loyal to the therapist/beautician/hairdresser and in reality business owners need to accept this and mitigate against it by running their businesses well, not by relying on the loyal customer base of an individual.

Thank you. I want the job but not if it stops we working elsewhere in future!
If that clause won't stand up its fine. I'd never client poach!

I would double check elsewhere too to be on the safe side - CAB can probably help. I have a legal background, but I am not a solicitor.

Bump. Anyone else?

IANAL, nor do I play one on television.

Any enforcement of this clause will have to involve civil court. The general principle there will be that the claimant (plaintiff) needs to demonstrate actual loss to the court.

If you were uniquely skilled, and your leaving the company and working elsewhere could be shown to have led to a loss - to the standard required by a court (i.e. high) then there would be a case against you.

The main barrier to their enforcing this will be that they will have to stump up the legal fees in advance, with no guarantee of return. So their "losses" would need to run to five figures before it's worth their time.

Personally I view non-compete clauses as a very good sign that the employer skimped on decent lawyers, and picked someone whose primary learning resource was "Perry Mason", as non-compete clauses are standard US beings.

So if nothing else, you know your potential employer doesn't use very good lawyers ....

If in doubt ask for clarification and check the explanation out here with your lawyer.