Re:Why I Don't Sign Non-Competes
by Carioca on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @09:57AM
(#16637988)
I've had an HR person tell me I needed to sign an NDA on the day I quit because it was missing (they forgot to hand me mine the day everyone got theirs). It included minimum damages of one year's salary for ANY breach. I had a lawyer friend write a much nicer and more reasonable version and told them that was the most I would sign. The only reason I even signed anything was to preserve the connections I had made there.
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It’s pretty typical to be asked to sign an NDA or other restrictive agreements at termination time if you’re getting a severance payment or other benefits that you wouldn’t otherwise get if you were voluntarily leaving the company.
What were the circumstances in which they asked you to sign?
This happened to my dad. He was with a company for 25 years, since its founding. He knew everything there is to know about the particular product they made, not only from being there for so long, but from holding a variety of positions while there including fifteen years as operations manager. He never signed an NDA or noncompete or anything like that. The company was bought by an "investment group" which did it's typical cost-cutting stranglehold to cash in on the name before driving the company into the dirt. I tried to convince him he could start his own company, on his own terms, creating those products with the highest quality craftsmanship. He thought about it, but on his last day when the inevitable came, they coupled his severance pay to signing a shitload of these typically overbearing, draconian clauses.
I was just getting standard severance mandated by law (here in Brazil), but I was going to a sort-of competitor: both company were incubators.
That was very generous. I'd have laughed in their face in a similar situation.
No point burning bridges if you don't have to, you never know when a connection could come in handy.
Re:Why I Don't Sign Non-Competes
by PurpleBoxDragon on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @10:39AM
(#16638354)
That's why you say no in a professional way. But I would still say no. If professionally saying no to such an unreasonable request burns a bridge, then it isn't just a bridge you shouldn't miss, it is a bridge that is better burned.
They're also kind of burning bridges. "Hey, remember our company? When you left we demanded you sign something that threatened you with damages!"
Burning bridges with who? The HR Drone?
Connections aside, if they weren't offering substantial benefits after you left why even bother to sign anything?
They want one year in damages for breaching the contract? They can pay for 1 year of salary.