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laRubiaBonita

i am guessing there are differences in legalities depending on where you are employed(states/ terr./ countries/ etc.) but my vague question is this:

 

what is not legal to include in such agreements?

 

my H is being pressured to sign one at his work- he has been there over 9 years. from what i know some of the restrictions are him not being able to be hired by or even take his clients if his employment is terminated- basically if whomever he has ever worked with at his current company he will not be able to use or resource through.

 

is that legal? he is going to consult a lawyer and go over the entire agreement... cause there is other things.

 

but i am just wondering if anyone here may know.

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threebyfate

I would strongly encourage your husband to get some legal advice, from a qualified employment attorney within your jurisdiction.

 

IMO, these mid-term employment agreements are sometimes relatively innocent, in that they're an en masse after-thought, by companies who didn't cover their arses, when they were smaller. But sometimes, they want to bind the employee's clients in some way, previous to getting rid of the employee.

 

Be careful.

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In addition to what TBF has stated, such a clause could be considered reasonable if there is a time limit e.g. it only applies for the first six months after leaving the current employer.

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laRubiaBonita

well his boss is a nut. i mean he seriously has social disfunctions- and i am pretty sure he abuses prescription drugs (like for ADD and anxiety). the boss has said lude thing to me in front of H, he is a wackjob, and he thinks he is powerful because he owns the company(which is partly true) but i do not think a private owner can conduct business in the way he does and it still be legal.

 

the guy owns the company and hires and fires willy nilly.... H tells me about the person that got terminated every couple of weeks.

 

h may possibly be a witness to some pending lawsuit (patent related).... it is such a stressful work environment, and not even with his duties!

i tell him all the time to start looking at other options.... *sigh*

 

so i kinda have this feeling that his boss maybe keeping H around at least until the lawsuit thing is done, but i have told H he can use that as a bartering tool as well.

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threebyfate

This is totally my personal opinion as a layman but I wouldn't sign that document. Those aren't the terms and conditions that your husband was hired under.

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I agree that he needs to have an attorney look at the document.

 

One thing to to remember though is that an employer always has the right to ask a current or new hire to sign a non compete..

It is done every day in many industry's.

 

An employer has a right to protect his business...

 

http://employeeissues.com/non-compete_agreement.htm

 

Here is an interesting link that has some info on non competes..

 

While we have never asked anybody here to sign one we have hired someone who previously had signed one with one of our competitors and we had to defeat it in court.. it is possible to defeat them but it generally depends on the wording and whether or not they are considered reasonable.

 

We ask all of our current employees to sign many non disclosure documents as needed here because we work with companies on products that are sometimes many years from being released or products that contain company secrets.. and we can't have anybody leaving and talking about the products they are working on since we are working under a non disclosure...

 

But those are non disclosure docs not employment documents and have more to do with protecting the companies we do work for rather than us...

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threebyfate

I agree that non-comp and non-disclosure documents are very popular, particularly in my industry. The difference is that LRB's husband, wasn't required to sign one, when he was first hired.

 

It also depends on whether your husband brought the clients with him or had acquired the clients through exposure from being an employee of this company.

 

Once again, I also restress that your H. should get solid, qualified, experienced, legal advice.

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There are tons of limitations to employment agreements, both pre-, during, and at termination. Please do not rely on anyone here. Seek the advice of an employment attorney in your jurisdiction.

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Another thing... NOT to freak you out, but it's becoming quite popular for employers to see these sorts of agreements during employment when they believe there will be a separation from employment in the very near future. They either think he might be looking to leave, or they intend on letting him go.

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Please do not rely on anyone here.

 

SG.. are you saying that she is to ignore all the other posters on this thread other than you ?

 

LRB wasn't looking for legal advice and no posters gave her any and many of the posters asked her to have her husband seek legal advice..

She even posted in her OP that her husband was seeking counsel but wanted to know if anybody had any exposure to them.

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I agree that he needs to have an attorney look at the document.

 

One thing to to remember though is that an employer always has the right to ask a current or new hire to sign a non compete..

It is done every day in many industry's.

 

 

While we have never asked anybody here to sign one we have hired someone who previously had signed one with one of our competitors and we had to defeat it in court.. it is possible to defeat them but it generally depends on the wording and whether or not they are considered reasonable.

 

I am going through this right now with one of my employees over a non-solicitation waver that was signed at his previous employer. The previous employer has no real case, but regardless, this is going to cost money to go through the process in court.

 

These documents can be very messy if you get an angry ex-employer who is lashing out to make a statement.

 

Also, if you work in an "at will" state, they can terminate your employment with very little or no cause, if you chose not to sign the documents over NDA and non-compete.

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laRubiaBonita
There are tons of limitations to employment agreements, both pre-, during, and at termination. Please do not rely on anyone here. Seek the advice of an employment attorney in your jurisdiction.

 

SG.. are you saying that she is to ignore all the other posters on this thread other than you ?

 

LRB wasn't looking for legal advice and no posters gave her any and many of the posters asked her to have her husband seek legal advice..

She even posted in her OP that her husband was seeking counsel but wanted to know if anybody had any exposure to them.

 

AC, i take SG to mean not to discuss this(his contract) any further as i could implicate things.

 

i looked at it last night and honestly- i should go into contract law- i deal with leases and such daily, and this was similar- in a way.

 

i have already found points that seem to contradict each other as well as repats a a ton of fluff.... stuff that sounds imporatnt but pretty much means "duh" :rolleyes:

 

so H is looking into legal counsel.

 

Thanks all for your suggestions!

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SG.. are you saying that she is to ignore all the other posters on this thread other than you ?

 

No. C'mon now, AC. :rolleyes: I specifically told her to ignore EVERYONE here and seek advice from an attorney in her jurisdiction, as there are tons of limitations on employment agreements that depend on a myriad of factors. That everyone would include me. Sheesh.

 

LRB wasn't looking for legal advice...

 

She used the words, "Is that legal?" and then said she's wondering if anyone here would know. IMO, that calls for legal advice. Not sure how you'd read it any differently... :)

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One thing to to remember though is that an employer always has the right to ask a current or new hire to sign a non compete..

 

Wrong. Not always.

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threebyfate

Reliant on jurisdiction, there can be some conflict in assorted labour codes.

 

Glad to hear that he's getting some legal counsel. I've never and will never sign an agreement of that nature, without professional "opinion", that can be relied upon.

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Yes, this is highly dependent on jurisdiction, as well as a number of other factors (nature of the business, extent of the limitation on competition, etc.).

 

For example, non-competes are usually void ab initio in California.

 

In Michigan (where I think AC is), they're generally allowed.

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i am guessing there are differences in legalities depending on where you are employed(states/ terr./ countries/ etc.) but my vague question is this:

 

what is not legal to include in such agreements?

 

my H is being pressured to sign one at his work- he has been there over 9 years. from what i know some of the restrictions are him not being able to be hired by or even take his clients if his employment is terminated- basically if whomever he has ever worked with at his current company he will not be able to use or resource through.

 

is that legal? he is going to consult a lawyer and go over the entire agreement... cause there is other things.

 

but i am just wondering if anyone here may know.

 

In 2 states that I know of for fact this is perfectly legal, and usually also comes with a clause stating that you can't work for any of the company's competition within an x-mile radius of any of their businesses.

 

As far as I know, there is usually a time limit on these though, such as 2 years.

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laRubiaBonita

well now he is being threatened with termination by his boss. but the PT HR lady seems to be trying to assist by reminding the boss that reasonable time needs to be given for reviewal.

 

he has an appt. with a lawyer on tuesday.

 

i just hope things work out. really if he was let go, it would be a blessing. that workplace is so toxic and negative. of course we do not need to lose his income.

 

he is super stressed now. :(

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is that legal?

yes its legal. its called a non-compete clause. but it can only be in effect for a stated duration (like 2 or 3 years after leaving employement)

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threebyfate

His boss is an idiot, for so many, many reasons. :rolleyes:

 

I look forward to his appointment with an attorney.

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laRubiaBonita
His boss is an idiot, for so many, many reasons. :rolleyes:

 

I look forward to his appointment with an attorney.

 

me tooo!

 

not to say too much but if he signs he waives his rights to filing any type grievance- i.e...OSHA, fair labor laws, etc...

AND he waives his right to a trail by jury... all this stuff that basically say if anything he would have to do arbitration, they would want to settle....

 

i dunno- it is all just crazy! and for $325 per hour- i hope it works out!

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threebyfate

If he ever signs, it had better be for a goodly chunk of change. Nine years is a long time. Also, are there any special benefits with this firm, if he were to hit ten years? Don't answer this question online but it's something for him to think about.

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me tooo!

 

not to say too much but if he signs he waives his rights to filing any type grievance- i.e...OSHA, fair labor laws, etc...

 

Does he have a workers' comp injury? Is he over 40? Of a protected race?

 

Has he made any complaints of harassment, discrimination, health and safety code violations, and other unlawful conduct?

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