Elite Cleaning Company, Inc. v. Capel, (  read opinion online  here   ). This Chancery Court case involved a Covenant-Not-To-Compete and a claim for wages under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act for failure to pay overtime. The plaintiff was a janitorial service. The court described the standards that apply for the enforcement of a Covenant-Not-To-Compete and was doubtful that there was a legitimate interest of the employer in enforcing a covenant against an unskilled janitor who was making little more than minimum wage. However, the janitorial service was a middleman that worked for another janitorial service and the court found precedent for protecting the role of the middleman.

If the employee were skilled and had trade secrets, there was a protectable interest to avoid disintermediation or eliminating the middleman. The court also discussed the statutory damages including attorneys’ fees and liquidated damages to which someone is entitled in a failure to pay overtime claim under Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. (There is a similar Delaware state statute that allows statutory damages for failure to pay wages due.)