>>>>>>>I am now a member of the ranks of the unemployed. Gary and I both got canned today. No sympathy replies are needed ... just thought y'all might want to know.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Now, we've got to come up with something new to do.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>~~Bonnie
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I'm so sorry to hear that. Really I am. I guess some management just don't realize what they have. Did you sign a non-competitive agreement?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Did you sign a non-competitive agreement?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Does that work over there ?
>>>>>
>>>>>If you get 'canned' that does not apply over here unless they keep paying you
>>>>
>>>>I got an education on this when I was in management and my company tried to stop a guy who left us to work for a client. It depends a lot on the state. California, for example, is very reluctant to enforce non-competes. In general former employees are more scared of non-competes than they need to be. First of all, they have to be reasonable in terms of geography and time. Typically this will be a year or less in a reasonably local area. A company can't word it to stop you from working for any competitor anywhere in the world for the next 10 years. The other big gotcha for employers is it needs to be signed at the time of employment to be enforceable. This relates to the legal concept of consideration, one of the main tenets of contract law. Basically it means each party to the agreement has to give something and receive something. A company handing an existing employee a non-compete to sign is not giving anything so the agreement, even if signed, is not enforceable. (And no, "You get to keep your job" doesn't cut it). Anyone finding themselves in that situation should just go ahead and sign it, knowing it's nothing to worry about.
>>>
>>>Yes, perhaps if you leave on your own.
>>>
>>>But if you get the sack you have to be able to find another job.
>>
>>I'm not sure on this point but think if you get the sack all bets are off. The non-compete becomes irrelevant. That you will go straight to a competitor is a chance they take.
>
>One company I worked for had a very clever way of handling it. If you were 'packaged out' - usually with a pretty good package, you had to sign a letter of agreement, and one of the items was a non-compete clause. If you refused to sign, then the package was halved.

IANAL (I am anal) but that sounds like it would work. It would still have to be reasonable in scope.

Doesn't it seem ironic that a company would not want someone any more but doesn't want them going to work for a competitor? Seems like those are exactly the people you want working for your competitors.