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Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

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Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#161
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 60%? Forget that. Why should anyone give up their right to work for a little over half of their market value? Well, you could take the American option where you're not allowed to work in that field, so you get 0% of your salary... (California excluded, if I understand correctly)

The German dev gets paid 25% of the US dev salary though.

And of that 50% are grabbed by the taxman.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#162

Thank god the german law requires a NC clause to have a compensation directly mentioned in the contract that is not allowed to be less than 60% the person earned in the company in the last year she worked there. If the compensation is missing or too low, the NC is against the law. In other words: if a company wants me to not compete, they need to pay me for the time the NC is active. Its also limited to a maximum of…

60%? Forget that. Why should anyone give up their right to work for a little over half of their market value? There is no excuse for allowing less than 100% compensation, and that should include not just salary, but projected bonuses.

> 60%? Forget that. Why should anyone give up their right to work for a little over half of their market value?

They don't. They very specifically can not ask an employee to "give up their right to work", only in the US does that shit happen.

German law (and most european law around NCC in various fashion) requires that the NCC ne limited in time and not have "unreasonable clauses" e.g. can't prevent working in the field throughout the country.

As a result enforceable NCCs are extremely rare and only happen for actual business interest reasons, it's not a sword over the employee's head as it is in the US.

Also it's at least 50% of gross, so closer to 65~70% of net.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#163
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

60% of salary with no duties? Perfect opportunity to create that Theranos for consumer goods logistics startup you've always dreamed of.

That'd be competing. Given any company can pivot to do anything. Yoga instructor? Cough non-compete!

> That'd be competing. Given any company can pivot to do anything.

That bullshit would not fly for a single second in germany. The NCC couldn't even prevent working for a direct competitor.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#164

Hah. I interviewed for a [growing in popularity and market share] top 20 cryptocoin. They had some curious choice of words in their "freelance" contract, notably that it would use German copyright law to transfer rights of all inventions I ever made. I pointed out that a couple of the phrases in the contract, when combined, indicated they would have IP rights to EVERYTHING I did not just work they paid me for. They m…

> Hah. I interviewed for a [growing in popularity and market share] top 20 cryptocoin. They had some curious choice of words in their "freelance" contract, notably that it would use German copyright law to transfer rights of all inventions I ever made.

IANAL but I really doubt that would be legal under german IR/IP laws.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#166

I've had non competes at my last 3 jobs (all in web hosting) The first, a darling "startup" adored by investors and customers alike sued me twice, sent a process server to my door at 6am on a saturday and tried to call me in for a deposition the afternoon of Christmas eve. They regularly win company culture awards and receive undeserved praise for being a place people can grow. I had a chance to grow from IC to VP an…

Why not name and shame? I agree that you fear retaliation from another company thinking "what if he blows the whistle on us at some point?" and not hiring you, but I don't know, is that a company you'd like to work for in the first place?

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The German dev gets paid 25% of the US dev salary though.

And of that 50% are grabbed by the taxman.

But the service you get from German government is so much better, healthcare is a good example here.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

60%? Forget that. Why should anyone give up their right to work for a little over half of their market value? There is no excuse for allowing less than 100% compensation, and that should include not just salary, but projected bonuses.

> 60%? Forget that. Why should anyone give up their right to work for a little over half of their market value? They don't. They very specifically can not ask an employee to "give up their right to work", only in the US does that shit happen. German law (and most european law around NCC in various fashion) requires that the NCC ne limited in time and not have "unreasonable clauses" e.g. can't prevent working in the f…

To add to that, it's very rare that companies deny employees to work on side projects (or rather claim all work an employee did in their free time for themselves). That's typically done by American companies.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#169
Have a friend who makes crowns etc. for dentists. He took a job here in town working for two dentists. They hired some junior folk and had him train them and then fired him.

He tried to start his own business so they sued him with a noncompete. They claimed thousands of dentists as their territory and the judge became angry with them but in the end the noncompete crippled his ability to make a living for years.

Re: Send Noncompete Agreements Back to the Middle Ages

#170

Have a friend who makes crowns etc. for dentists. He took a job here in town working for two dentists. They hired some junior folk and had him train them and then fired him. He tried to start his own business so they sued him with a noncompete. They claimed thousands of dentists as their territory and the judge became angry with them but in the end the noncompete crippled his ability to make a living for years.

On the flip side, I have another friend who was brought into a small town for a small branch of a medical-related practice. After awhile, he joined with the other guys in town and they started their own thing.

They actually did buy the business from the group who had brought them out, but it was a bit of a forced sale because there was no legal way for the group to stop them.

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