"Non-compete"
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One of the big problems in my (and other medical) professions was the "non-compete" clause in your contract.
tl;dr version: "If you leave our job, you can't work in a similar job within "X" number of miles for "X" number of years.
This was obviously a significant ball and chain thing. If you wanted to change jobs, you'd have to find one outside the radius of your non-compete. Frequently, that involved tearing up house and home.
Now, there's pressure to change all that.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week proposed a near-total ban on noncompete clauses for employees and contractors, calling them an "unfair method of competition." The rule would prohibit employers from enforcing existing noncompete clauses and making them a condition of future employment. If it can survive legal challenges, the FTC's ban on noncompetes would have a massive impact on the rights of employers and workers.
The noncompete clause usually sets a time or geographical limit within which an employee is barred from working for her employer's competitors or starting her own competing business. While there is broad agreement that noncompetes have been abused by employers, they also serve to protect proprietary data and incentivize companies to train their workers. In many contexts, noncompetes foster a mutually beneficial exchange between firms and workers. For instance, a worker who contractually agrees not to leave for a competitor in the same region may in turn receive skills training at his company he couldn't otherwise obtain.
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It varies by state.
The story was that we used to try to get people up to the Bethesda, MD office to sign the non-compete contract because it wasn't very easy to enforce in Virginia.
For me this was 45 years ago, so I'm not current on this.
Currently three states — California, North Dakota and Oklahoma — prohibit the enforcement of non-compete agreements.
https://www.foxrothschild.com/publications/ftc-proposes-rule-to-ban-non-compete-clauses
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Funny timing. My employer just sent out an updated NDA and noncompete which includes that the employee cannot work for up to 1 year after termination (at will or not) for companies that compete with them. I was talking to a colleague and we agreed this is pretty normal text in the IT contracting world, but also never enforced unless an employee does something really egregious in terms of competition that would warrant the legal attention of their previous employer.
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This is where California shines. Short of you opening up a competing business close to your former employer, the state of California generally frown upon non-compete clauses in employment agreements. My Silicone Valley friends like to boast how easy it is to quit one company to take another job with another employer across the street in the same business.
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“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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On Wall Street they call it “gardening leave”, and it’s usually only a few months. The idea is if you’re working on particular deals they don’t want you to take that knowledge to a competitor. After a few months the deals are done or dissolved, so it’s never been that long. Most people I knew loved the enforced break, and new employers expected it.
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Judge strikes down FTC ruling. Non-competes are back.
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@89th said in "Non-compete":
Ugh! Hope my previous employer doesn't come after me
That's why I kept changing countries. Sharing my invaluable expertise with the world was far more important than the petty concerns of national and commercial tribalism. I am a martyr to knowledge!
