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Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

businessinsurance.com

31–40 of 224 posts

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> that will basically eliminate them in NYC, it doesn't seem to stop quant firms. they have a term for it, although I forget what.

Garden leave

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> that will basically eliminate them in NYC, it doesn't seem to stop quant firms. they have a term for it, although I forget what.

Gardening leave.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#33
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Specifically, you can't take trade secrets from one employer to the next. Customer contact lists are just one example of this.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> that will basically eliminate them in NYC, it doesn't seem to stop quant firms. they have a term for it, although I forget what.

But if they're willing to pay it, it seems like it probably means this is a real issue rather than just a way to punish employees who leave, and it seems like they're reasonably compensating employees for the problem.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#35
post #3

IMHO, companies should have to compensate the employee for the period of the non-compete since they're still effectively working for them. Salary limits are okay, but don't really go far enough. If they want this it has a value and should be compensated for fairly.

I agree. Rather than having legislators get into the weeds of defining "compete", "trade secrets", "customer poaching", etc., laws should simply require that enforcing ANY post-employment terms require the former employer to pay the former employee the greater of the employee's maximum salary plus 10% (to cover opportunity cost) or 110% of any offer by a prospective new employer. Who better than the company to price the value of what the former employee knows? Maybe cap enforcement to 2-3 years.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#36
Am I the only one who doesn't add any inventions and doesn't care about a non-compete clause because I will never honor it and come at me bro if you want to try to enforce it?

I respect making sure the company doesn't steal someone's previous IP and I respect a company guarding their own IP. But I also respect that a person can work wherever the f they want without a previous company having any say.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that will basically eliminate them in NYC, it doesn't seem to stop quant firms. they have a term for it, although I forget what.

But if they're willing to pay it, it seems like it probably means this is a real issue rather than just a way to punish employees who leave, and it seems like they're reasonably compensating employees for the problem.

i think they are probably slightly disincentivizing leaving if they are only paying base salary.

someone who knows more will have to chime in, i didn't even remember this was called gardening leave

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#38
post #3

IMHO, companies should have to compensate the employee for the period of the non-compete since they're still effectively working for them. Salary limits are okay, but don't really go far enough. If they want this it has a value and should be compensated for fairly.

Yep. This is what we do in finance. It sucks a bit because most of our comp is bonus and you only get your base pay on garden leave, but I’m shocked this isn’t a requirement.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#39
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Specifically, you can't take trade secrets from one employer to the next. Customer contact lists are just one example of this.

Trade secrets have a very specific definition, and a mere list of contact information that is already likely public in an unfocused way (aka contact lists) almost certainly doesn’t qualify. Neither would a list of company names, etc.

That information however IS highly valuable, especially paired with knowledge of how a company is doing sales, how it is positioning itself internally strategy wise, etc. some of those things could be trade secrets, if adequately protected, but almost no one I know would meet such a bar with how they handle it. It would be at most confidential information, and could count as a NDA violation, but would be difficult to prove unless someone was really sloppy.

Re: Laws barring noncompete clauses spreading

#40
Over the years so many different jurisdictions around the US and the world have stated their desire to be the "next Silicon Valley" and have poured an immense amount of money and effort to make it so, whether in the form of incentives for businesses, tax breaks, education, job training, or even just straight paying smart people to move there. Every such scheme has generally failed because they refused to emulate the one key piece of California law that is necessary for a startup ecosystem to exist – banning noncompetes.

"But I'll spend money to train my employees and they'll just take those skills to go work for a competitor or start their own business!" Yes, that's a feature of the system, not a bug.

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