UK and Belgian supreme courts have similar views on severability of non-compete clauses

The UK supreme court recently held that unenforceable restrictions in non-compete clauses in employment contracts can be struck out or “severed” from the rest of the non-compete clause, so that the non-compete becomes enforceable.

The (three) criteria to meet in order for severance to be possible are interesting also in the context of Belgian law, given earlier very similar decisions by the Belgian supreme court in 2015 (2x) and 2019. The latter decisions however all concerned situations outside an employment law context. It remains to be seen whether, in Belgium, this case law will also be confirmed in an employment law context.