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Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

bostinno.streetwise.co

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Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#81

Post by [deleted] »

nickff wrote: post #52
dragonwriter wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"pro-capital" isn't necessarily the same thing as "pro-business"; non-competes, in particular, reduce labor market mobility, which reduces overall market efficiency in the same way that barriers to capital market liquidity would.

Though I have never, and will never sign one of these agreements, I cannot agree with your statement that they "reduce[] overall market efficiency". First off, such a grand claim merits some citation of empirical or theoretical evidence. Secondly, there are a variety of ways that these agreements (which I do not support) may increase productivity, such as by increasing the employer's trust in the employee, allowing t…

[deleted]

Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#82

Post by bane »

greyskull wrote: post #77
bane wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use something similar "I'd be happy to sign a perpetual non-compete contract so long as it includes a clause that you'll continue to pay me at current salary (with a yearly cost of living increase pegged at inflation) as long as the contract is in effect. If you wish to cancel the non-compete after it takes effect, you agree to a six month notification and run-down period". I'd need the six month period so I could…

I like that. I'm making note of it.

If they make a point about it, say you'd be willing to negotiate on the six month notification clause.

Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#84

Post by hga »

awda wrote: post #78

I work for EMC. Do we know if this will retroactively apply to existing contracts?

It normally would.

These sorts of things are normally declaring that such things in contracts are against the public interest, like restrictive covenants in real estate deeds to not sell your land to a black.

Those were all made null and void back in 1948 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_v._Kraemer), and modern efforts to blacken, so to speak, the reputations of people who since then bought such property are mendacious.

But who knows what might emerge from the legislative sausage grinder of the rather corrupt Massachusetts General Court?

Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#85

Post by zxexz »

hga wrote: post #59
danvoell wrote: post #42

For sales people I see a value in non-competes. I own a company which can run successfully with 100 clients. If I hire a sales person who builds good enough relationships with 50 of our existing clients such that he takes them to another company, he could cut our revenue in half. Why is that supposed to make me want to set up my business in Massachusetts? This announcement would seem to make businesses less competiti…

I might be inclined to agree, but doesn't the wild success of so many California companies where even these non-competes are unenforceable suggest the net value isn't high, maybe even negative? Massachusetts has had one modern era wildly successful civilian high tech period, stretching from the minicomputer era to the early PC era (both Visicalc and Lotus 1-2-3 were done in the Boston area). But this part of its high…

It's pretty good here (MA), but the really successful high tech area here is the medical/bio/ informatics and biotech. It's amazing how much development there is in the biotech industry here.

Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#87

Post by bdcravens »

patrickmay wrote: post #5

Limited non-compete agreements have value to startups. It's not unreasonable to want to protect the company's intellectual property, business plans, product roadmap, marketing strategy, etc. from someone who comes in, works for six months, and leaves to start a competitor. Certainly large companies are abusing these agreements. However, so long as the non-compete is agreed at the time of hiring, is restricted to a ye…

It's not unreasonable to want to protect the company's intellectual property

Even in the absence of a non-compete, you can still sign a NDA, and in the event of a disclosure or misappropriation, you can be sued into a pile of primordial ooze.

Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#89

Post by spamizbad »

rdl wrote: post #86

This is bad news for California. Which states are left with the non-competes?

Several.

However the strength and scope of these non-competes varies widely. And many companies have clumsily written non-competes in their employee contracts that would never hold up under scrutiny.

Re: Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes

#90

Post by taivare »

I was employed by one of the largest commercial real estate companies in the U.S. ,fortune 100 , they were asking low level maintenance workers to sign non-competes. Asking the guy who's emptying trash cans at the mall to sign a non-compete exemplifies just how far these corporations are willing go.
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