Amelia DaviesOn 10 August 2026, the John Lewis Partnership announced that Peter Ruis — Managing Director of John Lewis department stores since January 2024 — will step down on 6 September, with retail veteran Will Kernan named as his successor. The handover has been described as an "orderly succession," and Ruis is departing to "pursue new projects."
The announcement is clean, the language collegiate. But behind every high-profile executive departure — however smooth it appears publicly — lies a legal architecture that very few people think about until it is too late.
From Fashion Revival to Fresh Start: What Ruis Built at John Lewis
Peter Ruis joined John Lewis at a pivotal moment. Under his tenure, Topshop returned to the high street through John Lewis concessions, the retailer's digital and search platform was substantially rebuilt, and a series of exclusive fashion partnerships reshaped the brand's positioning. The results were visible: John Lewis had been struggling with relevance, and Ruis helped reframe it as a credible destination for younger shoppers.
After less than three years in the role, he steps down with the business in better shape than he found it. Will Kernan brings 35 years of retail leadership experience — including stints as chief executive of River Island, The White Company and Wiggle — and takes over in mid-September.
But the professional chapter that matters right now is not Kernan's arrival. It is what Ruis — and thousands of senior executives watching this story — is navigating between now and his exit date: the contractual obligations attached to leaving a major employer.
What Employment Lawyers Actually Look at First
When a managing director or C-suite executive signals intent to leave, employment solicitors consistently advise reviewing three things before anything else is said or done.
The first is the non-compete clause. Does the contract restrict the departing executive from joining a direct competitor, poaching former colleagues, or soliciting customers for a defined period after their exit? In retail, financial services, and media, clauses of six to twelve months at senior level have historically been upheld by UK courts, provided they go no further than reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate business interest.
The second is the gardening leave provision. Is the notice period served with the executive remaining active in the business, or are they excluded from duties while still receiving full pay? The distinction is not merely procedural — it has significant legal consequences for what comes after.
The third is the equity and incentive schedule. Unvested Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) awards, deferred bonus tranches, or partnership units do not vest automatically on departure. Voluntary resignation can mean forfeiting unvested portions entirely, depending on the scheme rules and whether the executive is classified as a "good leaver" or otherwise.
None of these issues can be renegotiated after the resignation letter has been handed in.
Gardening Leave: Paid, But Far From Free
Gardening leave is widely misunderstood. During a period of gardening leave, an employee remains employed, receives full salary and contractual benefits, but is excluded from active duties. They are typically barred from contacting clients, attending industry events in a professional capacity, or accessing company systems.
The employer's purpose is to prevent the executive from using live commercial intelligence — customer relationships, pricing strategies, product roadmaps — once they have mentally committed to moving on. This is a legitimate and well-established tool in UK employment law.
But gardening leave also works in the executive's favour. Courts have consistently held that if an employer places an employee on gardening leave for a substantial portion of a non-compete restriction period, the enforceable length of the remaining non-compete is correspondingly reduced. A twelve-month non-compete combined with a six-month gardening leave period may be effectively capped at six months of actual restriction.
Understanding this interaction is not intuitive. Many senior professionals accept their gardening leave period without realising it is quietly neutralising part of their post-employment restriction — or without understanding precisely what they can and cannot do during that window.
What the Numbers Actually Look Like: A Concrete Scenario
Consider a senior retail director employed on a package of £95,000 per year, with a three-month contractual notice period and a six-month non-compete clause in their executive contract. They decide to resign in August 2026 to join another business.
If served on gardening leave for the full three-month notice period, they receive £23,750 in salary during that window, with pension contributions and benefits continuing. The six-month non-compete begins to run from the date employment ends — not from the date they stopped working.
If they accept a role at a direct competitor during month four of the restriction — three months after their employment ended, three months into the six-month non-compete — the former employer could apply for an interim injunction to enforce the clause, potentially delaying the start date of the new role by weeks. Legal costs for both sides typically run to five figures even for straightforward injunction hearings.
Here is the critical variable: if the UK government's proposed three-month statutory cap on non-compete clauses becomes law — as outlined in the November 2025 working paper — that six-month clause would be enforceable only up to three months. For this director, the difference is three months of commercial freedom, worth a conservative £23,750 in salary from the new role, plus the ability to join a competitor three months earlier than the original contract would have permitted.
Timing a departure around the reform calendar is not straightforward. No legislation has passed as of August 2026. But an executive negotiating their exit terms today should at minimum instruct an employment solicitor to advise whether a voluntary reduction in the non-compete period is achievable as part of the departure settlement — before any formal resignation.
The Government's Reform — Where Things Stand
The UK government published a working paper on reform of non-compete clauses in employment contracts in November 2025, with stakeholder responses due in February 2026. The document sets out several possible approaches:
A statutory three-month cap on all non-compete clauses in employment contracts would represent a significant departure from the current position, under which courts assess enforceability on a case-by-case basis using common law principles.
An alternative would ban non-compete clauses entirely for workers below a salary threshold, while introducing a three-month cap for higher earners — broadly aligning UK law with approaches seen in some US states.
The most radical option would require employers to compensate employees financially for the duration of any non-compete restriction, bringing the UK closer to the German model, where non-competes are only enforceable if the employer pays at least half the employee's most recent annual remuneration for the duration.
The current law — unamended as of today — still allows courts to uphold restrictions of up to twelve months for genuinely senior hires in specialist sectors. But the direction of reform is clear, and any contract signed or departure negotiated in the next eighteen months should factor in the probability of change.
Five Things to Do Before You Resign
If you are a senior professional considering an executive exit — whether in retail, finance, technology or any other sector — the following steps apply regardless of your seniority or sector:
Read your contract in full before making any approach to a new employer. The specific wording of your non-compete, not-solicitation, and notice provisions governs everything. Generic assumptions about what is "standard" are frequently wrong.
Do not resign before taking legal advice. Actions taken before a formal exit — downloading documents, contacting clients about a move, setting up a competing business while still employed — can create significant liability even if the non-compete clause is ultimately unenforceable.
Negotiate, do not assume. Many non-compete clauses can be reduced or waived as part of a departure settlement. A garden-leave period of substance can be offered in exchange for a shorter post-employment restriction. An employment solicitor will know what a reasonable counterparty would accept.
Check your LTIP and deferred bonus vesting schedule in detail. If an award vests within your notice period, the timing of your departure date — sometimes by a matter of days — can affect entitlements worth tens of thousands of pounds.
Keep written records of every conversation about your departure. Verbal agreements to waive restrictions, modify notice periods, or confirm "good leaver" status have a way of being forgotten once the relationship sours. Everything of substance should be confirmed in writing.
This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Employment law is highly fact-specific: the enforceability of any non-compete clause, the terms of any gardening leave arrangement, and the impact on incentive awards will depend on the precise wording of your contract and your individual circumstances. If you are planning an executive exit, speaking with a qualified employment solicitor before taking any formal steps is strongly recommended.
