Non-Compete Agreements: An Employee Perspective

publisher.

Introduction

So, what inspired me to write this book, Non-Compete Agreements: An Employee Perspective? Well, I guess I wanted some kind of closure. I thought that by writing this book, I will have done everything I could to get my point across once and for all.

What is my point? My non-compete agreement has had a horrible impact on my life for over 8 years. People need to know this. People need to know why this still has an impact on my life right now.

Maybe it was my most recent interview as well. I go to all the trouble to prepare for it. Read the website. Watch the videos. Of course, I’m in competition with other people for the job and all of them have better qualifications than I do which included industry related experience. It was then that I started to realize how hopeless my situation was.

Yet all I can do is keep trying. Keep applying for jobs on the web. Hope that I catch a break. Or in my case, a miracle. The fact is that I know that the chances of me getting a job in another industry are slim and none. Yet I have no choice. I have to keep trying.

Another reason I decided to write this book was for all the people who are saying that the government shouldn’t be the ones getting involved in big business. If anything, the opposite has been the case when it comes to non-compete agreements. I hope that by the time that you’re finished reading this book, you’ll understand that the state and local governments have neglected employees and stood up for companies, non-compete lawyers and special interest groups. This has to end in order to stop non-compete agreements from spreading even further without regulation.

In addition, we have a lot of people who really don’t know anything about non-compete agreements and will go out of their way to make it sound like they know what they’re talking about when in reality, they really don’t know anything about the subject.

For example, I met with a representative from Occupy Wall Street. I asked him if he ever heard of non-compete agreements. He said he didn’t. I tried to explain what they were but he cut me off immediately. He said that every state has a right to work state and non-compete agreements didn’t mean anything. Of course, since this person is a Union Representative, right to work only applies as a necessity to join a union, which has nothing to do with a non-compete agreement.

So much for a group of people who talk and protest about greed on Wall Street. I guess that only counts when this group has Union reps and they don’t care about you unless you’re going to be in their Union.

Another time, I was having a conversation with my bank manager about non-compete agreements. Sure, he heard of them. As he put it, they’ll never be enforced in court because that is depriving you of a living. Of course, I told him that that wasn’t the case. He was stunned. His conclusion. It doesn’t make sense. As he put it, so you can lose your job and collect unemployment benefits when you can work but can’t work due to your non-compete agreement and be a burden on the state.

Some people have said to me that the government would never allow this. They would not stand for this. How could they let this happen? Yet, the answer is that the government is aware of non-compete agreements and they let it happen because they are controlled by special interest groups. You will see that in action when I talk about what happened in Georgia with Amendment One.

There are times when I read an article online about non-compete agreements and I go down and read through the comments. There is always someone who makes remarks like this is illegal. This will never hold up in court. Or a judge will throw this out.

I mean, it’s one thing to express your opinion but doesn’t it sound better when you say I was on a non-compete agreement and the judge threw it out of court. No, because the reality is that a judge can enforce a non-compete agreement if he or she wants to. Doesn’t matter if you’re unemployed. In fact, there was a case in Indiana where a judge ruled that a five year non-compete agreement was considered reasonable when a woman tried to sue for relief for her non-compete agreement against her employer, a printing company.

Yet there is always someone who wants to make a comment on an article about non-compete agreements even though they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s like going to the sports section of a newspaper and reading comments from people who say that their baseball team should make some trades and their team will be better or the manager doesn’t know what he’s doing. Then again, people who know me on Twitter know that I do this. Not a great example.

Okay, let me put this another way. For the people who feel that they want to say something online when an article is written on non-compete agreements, keep this in mind. Non-compete lawyers will look at these comments and laugh. Not only will they laugh but they’ll run to their colleagues and say, hey did you read what this person said about non-compete agreements? He said that they’re illegal and a judge will throw them out of court. He also said that the government will never let this happen. Wow, we really have a good thing going. Then they’ll laugh some more before they go and put out an injunction on dog and cat groomer or a maid if he or she violated their non-compete agreements. If that doesn’t work, then they’ll drag them into court and start a lawsuit.

Then again, I still run into people who would say I don’t believe you. If what you say is true, then why isn’t this on the news. I’ve never seen a report on this on news programs like The Today Show, GMA, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, or other stations.

I can understand that people feel this way. The last thing people want to hear is that there are thousands of people like me who are at will employees and we can be fired at any time for any reason and we can’t work for a competitor or companies in our industry for 2 years or even 5 years. It’s a lot to take in because we really want to believe that the government won’t permit this. Yet the truth is that as much as I feel frustrated by people like the one I met at Occupy Wall Street, this is the major reason that people do not know about non-compete agreements.

All of these stations have avoided doing stories on non-compete agreements. My answer is that once you read this book and the chapters on The Heroes Of Massachusetts and The Media and Non-Compete Agreements, you will know that there is no reason why these stations should not talk about non-compete agreements. They have no excuses to not do a story anymore and the fact is that this is the reason that people are uninformed about non-compete agreements. By not doing stories on non-compete agreements, what is happening is that employees are being kept in the dark about how damaging these contracts are and the media is not doing their job by covering this. The sad part is that local stations and business news stations have done a poor job of covering this topic. You will see examples of that in this book.

As a result, people are unaware of non-compete agreements and the fact is that if you want to follow stories on this subject, then you will have to be on Twitter or Google News. Yes, it’s sad that this is the only way that you can be updated on news that is so important to employees because the media will not cover it.

In any case, your questions are about to be answered here. I guess when it happened to me, I was stunned as well. Then nightmare began and it only got worse. It was like having a black cloud on my back for years, and no matter what I did, I could not shake it.

By the end of this book, one important fact will be proven about non-compete agreements. That fact is that today, we live in a society where it’s okay that an employee gets fired from their job and their employer has the right to dictate where they can and cannot work. You will see that this is true when you read the chapter on the Government and New Legislation.

Yes, people like me are considered at will employees and we can be fired from our jobs at any time for any reason. And our employer doesn’t even have to give us a severance package.

It doesn’t matter if you get into the office early. It doesn’t matter that you stay late. It doesn’t even matter that you don’t go to the bathroom all day as Michael Bloomberg would say. Most of all, it doesn’t matter if you close big deals for over $100,000 like I do. That’s only one sale and I still have to reach my quota or I’m history since my job is month to month now.

In the past five years, I’ve lost nearly $30,000 a year in commissions. I know for a fact that my salary is under $20,000 compared to other people in my industry. Not to mention all the opportunities I lost on management positions or positions where I had a chance to enhance my skills. Yes, as employment lawyers will say, being under a non-compete agreement is a career of indentured servitude.

So, now it’s time to hear all about non-compete agreements. It’s not a pleasant subject. It’s not meant to be. It’s a story that needs to be told. Most of all, there are two sides to this story. Now, for the first time, you will hear what employees like me have to say about non-compete agreements. I think that by the time you’re finished with this book, you will see big government stayed out of the way of big business and that is the main reason that non-compete agreements have flourished throughout our country.

Make no mistake about it. A non-compete agreement is a very powerful weapon that a company has in their arsenal. Laws have been changed in just about every state because of it. Special interest groups use it as leverage to force state and local governments to continue to use them and enforce them. Law firms who specialize in non-compete agreements are growing, making them some of the top law firms in the country.

It’s a huge industry now. If you’re employee and you are presented with a non-compete agreement, the first thing you should do is seek an employment lawyer even though it will cost you $400. That may be tricky since choosing a lawyer will depend on where your employer is headquartered in. For example, if you live in New York and your employer is headquartered in Texas, then you will have to find an employment lawyer in Texas since that is where the non-compete agreement was executed.

Yes, we’re not off to a good start. Don’t worry, it only gets worse. The only good thing is that they are illegal in North Dakota and California.

By the time you finish this book, you will see that it isn’t about me. It’s about you, the employee. If anything, this is about big business having their way and big government stood out of the way and let it happen and the media wouldn’t report it. As a result, big business has been allowed to play around with our livelihoods for over 15 years.

As the great Sidney Pottier said in the movie A Piece Of The Action having a job means that you need to feed your family. Instead of doing that, employees are forced to sacrifice their education, their finances, and their future in order to make sure that companies can have their non-compete agreements.

You’re going to hear about my career before I was on a non-compete agreement and what happened afterwards as well as interviews with companies in other industries. If anything, you will know that companies and their lawyers across this country have abused this privilege of being allowed to have non-compete agreements and being allowed to fire employees so they can keep them from working in their industry.

As far as the stories in this book are concerned, I can assure you that everything you will be reading is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent as well as me.

Chapter 1

The Beginning

I was very unhappy in my last job and felt it was time to move on. Rather than go into my reasons here, I have devoted a chapter to the reason I left this job which is called Non-Compete Agreements and the Nature of the Business.

The interview went well since it was a company that competed with my current company. They were the only ones that had a job opening at this point and I was happy to make this move.

The phone call came from Henry Jones. He wanted to offer me the job and give me a $3,000 raise. I said that was great. Then he had a question.

Do you have a problem signing a non-compete agreement?

Tough question. I had signed a non-compete agreement about 10 years ago but it wasn’t as drastic as the ones are today. What was I going to say? Well, what is it like? I may have a problem with signing one.

No, the rules are that when you’re in this situation, you say yes. So my answer was I signed a non-compete agreement with a company many years ago so I don’t have a problem with it.

Later, I took that job and signed that non-compete agreement. It didn’t seem drastic but I had a friend who advised me to see an employment lawyer. She recommended one and I went to see him.

The conversation wasn’t long. He said not to worry about it. It’s not a well written contract. I don’t think they’ll take you to court over this because they’ll probably lose. I said fine and his response was that will be $350.00.

Yes, most lawyers don’t work for free and I agreed to pay him and he said that if I have questions, then I should call him. Yes, that could be money going towards my rent or mortgage or vacation but we live in a world where companies have rights now and I’m working so I shouldn’t have a hard time paying $350.00 to a lawyer for a consultation that took about 10 minutes. Doesn’t matter what my salary is.

It was about eight months after that that I received a memo. Basically, it was an announcement that employees were supposed to sign a new non-compete agreement. In the memo, it said that if you don’t sign this non-compete agreement, then you may be terminated.

Obviously, my company meant business. The contract must have been five pages and on one page, it mentions that I’m an at will employee and I can be fired at any time for any reason. It also said that I can’t work for a company that has a competing product which meant that I would not be able to work in most of the companies in the industry.

I paid a visit to that lawyer and he looked at the agreement and said I can’t advise you on what to do. You’ll have to hire an attorney in a different state. Why? Because my company is headquartered in a different state and the contract was executed out there.

The lawyer had no one he could refer me to. So, here I was again, about to spend another $350.00. I decided not to do it because I was happy with my job and I didn’t have any plans to move to another company.

I signed the non-compete agreement. Of course, I heard rumors around the water cooler that other people didn’t sign it. Yes, that is discrimination but that doesn’t matter since the non-compete agreement stands up in court.

Time had passed and things were changing in the company. I was growing unhappy but here I was with this non-compete agreement that I signed. So I called an attorney and he said send me the contract in the mail along with a check for $350.000 and I’ll review it.

I sent it by Federal Express. The lawyer would call me the next night and said that the contract was good and that if I’m planning to look for a job, then it should be in another industry. In addition, they could enforce the agreement even if they fire