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Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

businessinsurance.com

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Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#11

Post by toomuchtodo »

lazide wrote: post #9
ptudan wrote: post #2

Makes a ton of sense. Completely absurd for security guards and administrative assistants to have non-compete clauses. Just another way businesses were trying to reduce the willingness of employees to quit so that they can suppress wages.

Admin assistants (like actual admin assistants) usually have access to full customer contact lists, and exposure to rather intimate details of the business and executives lives. They’re definitely not comparable to security guards in that sense.

This is not enough of an excuse to encumber someone from earning a living elsewhere.

> “Employers need to get creative about how to impose restrictions to protect themselves against individuals” in whom they have made significant investments, or who have been allowed access to trade secrets, to protect themselves against such employees leaving, said Maxwell N. Shaffer, a partner with Holland & Knight LLP in Denver.

The sort of healthy employee-employer relationship that retains talent.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#12

Post by shadowgovt »

matsemann wrote: post #8

Where I live (Norway), these laws came thanks to unions. When I graduated, all developer jobs I was offered had a noncompete clause in the contract. These were wide and potentially career-altering if enforced, barring you from doing basically any kind of work for long stretches of time. All companies when pushed basically said "ohh, we seldom enforce them, only for upper management", but still they insisted on them b…

I had a chance to visit Norway recently, and this was something that a tour guide impressed upon us about the culture; she gave an example of a restaurant in town that was caught skimming pay, and it wasn't just a union representing restaurant workers they heard from; they found themselves unable to find someone to repair plumbing or their storefront (the plumbers and glaziers wouldn't work with them), and their ingredient supply chain suffered (truck drivers told them to make their own 3AM trip to stock up).

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#14

Post by ec109685 »

lazide wrote: post #9
ptudan wrote: post #2

Makes a ton of sense. Completely absurd for security guards and administrative assistants to have non-compete clauses. Just another way businesses were trying to reduce the willingness of employees to quit so that they can suppress wages.

Admin assistants (like actual admin assistants) usually have access to full customer contact lists, and exposure to rather intimate details of the business and executives lives. They’re definitely not comparable to security guards in that sense.

There are already laws against Admin assistants from taking full customer contact lists from one job to another. You don't need non-competes to enforce that.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#15

Post by bonestamp2 »

matsemann wrote: post #8

Where I live (Norway), these laws came thanks to unions. When I graduated, all developer jobs I was offered had a noncompete clause in the contract. These were wide and potentially career-altering if enforced, barring you from doing basically any kind of work for long stretches of time. All companies when pushed basically said "ohh, we seldom enforce them, only for upper management", but still they insisted on them b…

> And pay full salary while enforced.

That's a good clause, that will basically eliminate them. It makes sense from the government's standpoint, they don't want anything that restricts people's income because that restricts their (tax) income too.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#16

Post by exabrial »

I think a better system is an up-front repayable bonus: "We'll pay you $2k on sign-on, but you have to stay for 2 years" or something.

This benefits job applicants (extra money!), employers (retention), and protects applicants (employers abusing non-compete agreements for everything), and is a far easier legal process to execute.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#17

Post by blep_ »

loceng wrote: post #7

Isn't this ethos similar to being counter to monopolistic patents? Could this trend lead to the abolishment of patents - and perhaps should an effort be made to help people understand the comparison?

> and perhaps should an effort be made to help people understand the comparison?

I would recommend that, because the connection isn't obvious to me.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#19

Post by neon_electro »

shadowgovt wrote: post #12
matsemann wrote: post #8

Where I live (Norway), these laws came thanks to unions. When I graduated, all developer jobs I was offered had a noncompete clause in the contract. These were wide and potentially career-altering if enforced, barring you from doing basically any kind of work for long stretches of time. All companies when pushed basically said "ohh, we seldom enforce them, only for upper management", but still they insisted on them b…

I had a chance to visit Norway recently, and this was something that a tour guide impressed upon us about the culture; she gave an example of a restaurant in town that was caught skimming pay, and it wasn't just a union representing restaurant workers they heard from; they found themselves unable to find someone to repair plumbing or their storefront (the plumbers and glaziers wouldn't work with them), and their ingr…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#20

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

ptudan wrote: post #2

Makes a ton of sense. Completely absurd for security guards and administrative assistants to have non-compete clauses. Just another way businesses were trying to reduce the willingness of employees to quit so that they can suppress wages.

Believe it or not they're now being used for fast food employees.
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