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Robert B. Corris S.C.
Attorney at Law
Lake Country Office/ Mailing Address
W309 N6399 Lakeview Lane
Suite 100
Hartland, WI 53029
Milwaukee Office
735 North Water Street
Suite 1440
Milwaukee, WI 53202
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CASE OF THE MONTH
Frank D. Gillitzer Elec. Co., Ltd. v. Andersen, No. 2009AP939, 2010 WL 173895 (Ct. App., Jan. 10, 2010). Former Gillitzer employees had signed an Educational And Non-Competition Agreement, allowed them to particpate in an apprenticeship program. The agreement contained provisions for repayment of training costs under certain circumstances and restrictive covenant provisions. Gillitzer conceded the latter were unenforceable. The employees argued that the training reimbursement provisions were subject to Wis. Stat., sec. 103.465 and could not be enforced because they were intertwined with the restrictive covenants and therefore not divisible under the
Streiff case. Gillitzer argued that the Star Direct case created a new test for divisibility, pursuant to which the training reimbursement program was neither intertwined nor textually linked. Recognizing that if the training reimbursement provision were standing alone, it would not fall within Wis. Stat. 103.465, and without deciding whether
Star Direct created a new test, the Court of Appeals held that training program was divisible from the restrictive covenants under either
Streiff or Star Direct. The training reimbursement and non-compete provisions were not dependent on each other for their meanings. Although both were requirements of accepting the apprenticeship money, they imposed separate requirements. If either provision were stricken, the other would still be independently understood. Additionally, unlike in
Streiff, the two provisions did not share identical factual triggers. Unlike in
Streiff, there was no cross-referencing, textual linkage and shared content within the paragraphs. |
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