In the role of an HR legal specialist, you have been approached by an inventor in your own country who is being threatened by their former employer. The former employee worked for the company for 10 years, after leaving them, the employee invented a gadget that was designed to compete with the devices sold by the former employer.

As part of the contract of employment, there was a clause that stated that former employees could neither work for a competitor nor start a business that competed with the employer for a period of 10 years after leaving them. Research whether this non-compete clause is legally binding or not.

The employee is of the opinion that when the contract was signed, he was young and in a very junior position with the business.