Signing Confidentiality, Non-Solicitation, Non-Competition, & Inventions Agreements

[donlapalma]

I just received a job offer that I'm seriously considering. As part of the offer letter, there is an Employee Confidentiality, Non-Solicitation, Non-Competition, & Inventions Agreement. I've never had to sign one of these before. For the attorneys out there, what should I be on the lookout for?

I've read my fair share of these for work so, to my accounting mind, it sounds pretty boiler-plate. However, since this now impacts me personally I thought I would see what you all had to say.

And yes, I will not construe any posters comments as "legal advice."

[KUSA]

In regards to the no compete, I would never sign one of them. If the company is so concerned about you leaving, is it a place you really want to work? A good company will have the confidence that you will want to stay.

I’ve seen people in my industry that signed them, left the company to work for a competitor, and get sued. They lose and have to fork over cash.

Ask them why they feel they need a no compete.

[JoshNC]

In regards to the no compete, I would never sign one of them. If the company is so concerned about you leaving, is it a place you really want to work? A good company will have the confidence that you will want to stay.

I’ve seen people in my industry that signed them, left the company to work for a competitor, and get sued. They lose and have to fork over cash.

Ask them why they feel they need a no compete.

That is industry dependent. Very common in some. OP, I recommend you hire a good employment attorney and ask these questions. Coming to an Internet forum asking for job/legal advice is worth what you pay for it.

[donlapalma]

That is industry dependent. Very common in some. OP, I recommend you hire a good employment attorney and ask these questions. Coming to an Internet forum asking for job/legal advice is worth what you pay for it.

Yes. I'm acutely aware that forum discussions are not the equivalent of paid legal advice and I acknowledge as much in my OP. I'm asking personal friends and colleagues the same question I posed here - because I tend to think there are some smart and experienced folks here. If after my INFORMAL inquiries, I believe the engagement of an attorney is warranted, I will certainly go down that route.

[THCDDM4]

I’d personally not sign such an agreement that pushes me into a corner. Unless the juice was worth the squeeze and I had thoroughly vetted the company and my plan was to stay for the term of the contract.

Some non-competes come with an extension beyond the contracted term- that’s a big no no for me.

[MegademiC]

Not an attorney.
I’ve signed one for a prior position as an engineer.

Very situational, business, and career dependant.
If I ran the company, I would want people to sign as well, depending on the job.

I would expect it to be common for people involved with R&D.

[Renegade]

I just received a job offer that I'm seriously considering. As part of the offer letter, there is an Employee Confidentiality, Non-Solicitation, Non-Competition, & Inventions Agreement. I've never had to sign one of these before. For the attorneys out there, what should I be on the lookout for?

I've read my fair share of these for work so, to my accounting mind, it sounds pretty boiler-plate. However, since this now impacts me personally I thought I would see what you all had to say.

And yes, I will not construe any posters comments as "legal advice."

Only saw one.

Dell wanted me to sign:

a) 2 year no compete.
b) if I fail to complete 4 weeks, my salary reverts to minimum wage I must pay them back.

This for a short term contract position, 6 months tops. They acted surprised I turned them down.

[arptsprt]

Non-compete clauses are very common in the Architectural and Engineering (A&E) world mainly for senior level positions and/or an individuals bringing a unique or highly sought after network or skill set to the table.

I signed two non-competes when I was in the A&E consulting world and both were a year if I left on my own accord.

I didn’t want to sign them but really had no choice if I wanted to follow my career path. It all worked out in the end for me but they are getting more common in this highly competitive work environment where finding and keeping good talent is challenging.


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[SomeOtherGuy]

Lawyer here. Of course, as you know, I am not YOUR lawyer. Enforceability varies a lot by state, your type of job, and the terms of the noncompete. Personally I think they are legitimate for (1) sale of a business, where the selling owner agrees not to compete, and (2) those rare situations where a business invest heavily in a person's training and wants to make sure they don't just finance their competitor. Other than that I think poorly of them, and you've seen some horror stories above.

If you do decide to sign - like if you have no real choice in your industry - make sure that the terms don't prevent from working any skilled field during the post-termination non-competition period. It's one thing if you can't do hyperspecialty X in metro area A, but another if you can't do, say, any computer programming in north America. (The latter probably wouldn't be enforceable, but you might have to spend $10k or more on attorney fees to get that decided in court.)

[Hmac]

Non-competes are routine in Medicine. Usually 30-50 mile geographic exclusion for 2 years around here. They appears to be pretty enforceable in this state. The 12-surgeon group that I own/work for has such a non-compete, and we contract with a hospital for exclusive surgical services (so...two non-competes...one for the group and one for the hospital). Conversely however, the hospital has a non-compete with us...we have right of first refusal for any other surgeon that the hospital wants to hire...the hospital can only hire them if we don't want them. Just had that happen with a podiatrist. We elected to keep our professional corporation all physicians, and hospital hired him.