Re:To Compete Better, States Are Trying to Curb Noncompete P...
by Bartweiss on Wednesday June 29, 2016 @10:38AM
(#12001888)
This is good advice for many people, sure, but not a replacement for transparency. Several companies I talked to for my first internship came with NDAs and noncompetes, and there's no way in hell I was scraping together lawyer money to address each one. Googling and asking friends was the only thing going.
Remember that freaking Jimmy John's sticks their sandwich makers with noncompete clauses. These are not people who have the freedom to reject a job offer, the pull to renegotiate a contract, or the money to hire an attorney. But they might well have the option of checking out a website and deciding which fast food places to apply to based on how abusive the contracts are.
More broadly, I'm skeptical of any argument which starts from "this doesn't need to be publicly available knowledge, just pay a lawyer to tell you how things are done". Personal legal advice is a good hedge, but it often highlights points where transparency is lacking and people without savings are getting screwed.
Remember that freaking Jimmy John's sticks their sandwich makers with noncompete clauses. These are not people who have the freedom to reject a job offer, the pull to renegotiate a contract, or the money to hire an attorney. But they might well have the option of checking out a website and deciding which fast food places to apply to based on how abusive the contracts are.
More broadly, I'm skeptical of any argument which starts from "this doesn't need to be publicly available knowledge, just pay a lawyer to tell you how things are done". Personal legal advice is a good hedge, but it often highlights points where transparency is lacking and people without savings are getting screwed.