cajunaggie08 said:
Help_needed said:
Nobody is forcing the employee to sign a non compete clause. It's their choice. Why would that be outlawed? Do people not believe in choice?
I was forced to sign one. My employer was bought by a larger company that gave us 5-days to sign it or be forcibly terminated. Seeing how I had a 1-year old and a wife that just became a stay-at-home parent, i didn't really feel I had the choice to say no and go hit the open job market during a period where layoffs were happening all over my industry. I later lost out on job opportunities from other companies in my industry as my employer is essentially a competitor to everyone in the industry and they didn't want to deal with the risk of a lawsuit.
Non competes cannot prevent you from going to a competitor. They can only prevent you from stealing clients or other technology from your current employer.
No offense, but you either didn't understand the non-compete, or what your company forced you to sign was actually illegal if it prevented you from switching jobs.
EDIT: This is how it was explained to me but it was a long time ago for the average worker bee. Executives however could be stopped from switching to a competitor b/c of their knowledge level.
Maybe it's changed a lot.
My wife signed one and she is in sales and sells XYZ brand Equipment. She kept thinking she could not go to a competitor until I read it and explained the non-compete only says she cannot sell XYX brand equipment for 18-months after, but she can however sell QRS equipment.