5 ms·

I thought it was illegal to prevent someone from earning a living?

by ProAm 10y ago

mcv 10y ago
It should be, but apparently it isn't in all states.
gnopgnip 10y ago
In most states the agreement must be reasonable, and there is a lot of variation in how that is interpreted.
kiba 10y ago
If you're a felon, then you're essentially prevented from earning a living.
- sokoloff 10y ago
  How so? They're prohibited from possessing firearms, so they're not suited for armed security, but there's nothing structural preventing them from earning a living. Plenty of companies will hire felons, just not all of them.
  - astrodust 10y ago
    In practice "plenty" translates to "almost none" and those that do tend to abuse their employees since there's very few repercussions. Simply being unemployed for an extended period of time is enough to exclude you from many jobs. Being a felon and having done jail time excludes you even more severely.
    - tracker1 10y ago
      "I was operating a sole-proprietorship business from 1998 to 2012."
      - astrodust 10y ago
        That can work for a case of simple unemployment if you can make it sound plausible, but if you can't come up with a single client reference from that period of time you could be pooched. This is also complicated by the fact that you may have no option to admit that you're a felon and served time since they may have your police report on their desk. We're living in an era where having nothing more than an arrest record, even if no charges were ever filed, is grounds for suspicion. It doesn't even matter if you were someone walking their dog and rounded up by the police in some kind of illegal kettling, you have a record.
- driverdan 10y ago
  Felon here. I haven't had trouble finding work. I have highly desirable skills though so I recognize it's much harder for others.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  Sure, but that's not another entity doing it, that's due to your own actions.
praxulus 10y ago
If you voluntarily enter into a contract in which you agree not to do a certain kind of work later in exchange for compensation now, it's perfectly legal for the other party to enforce that contract (unless it was in the form of a non-compete and you live in e.g. California.) This is a matter of labor standards, not individual liberty.
- pyre 10y ago
  It's hard to argue that a competitive salary for work done is "payment" for not doing something later on. If they are paying an above average salary for the job, it might be arguable.
alkonaut 10y ago
It's possible to sign a contract with unreasonable terms, but such a contract may or may not be enforacable. If you happen to live somewhere where a contract can have a noncompete for 6 or 12 months without compensation, and it also happens to be enforcable there, only then do you need to worry about this. A noncompete without compensation likely isn't enforcable in many places (Although it may be in some or most of the states of the US).

I thought it was illegal to prevent someone from earning a living?

by ProAm 10y ago

I thought it was illegal to prevent someone from earning a living?

mcv 10y ago

It should be, but apparently it isn't in all states.

gnopgnip 10y ago

In most states the agreement must be reasonable, and there is a lot of variation in how that is interpreted.

kiba 10y ago

If you're a felon, then you're essentially prevented from earning a living.

sokoloff 10y ago
How so? They're prohibited from possessing firearms, so they're not suited for armed security, but there's nothing structural preventing them from earning a living. Plenty of companies will hire felons, just not all of them.
- astrodust 10y ago
  In practice "plenty" translates to "almost none" and those that do tend to abuse their employees since there's very few repercussions. Simply being unemployed for an extended period of time is enough to exclude you from many jobs. Being a felon and having done jail time excludes you even more severely.
  - tracker1 10y ago
    "I was operating a sole-proprietorship business from 1998 to 2012."
    - astrodust 10y ago
      That can work for a case of simple unemployment if you can make it sound plausible, but if you can't come up with a single client reference from that period of time you could be pooched. This is also complicated by the fact that you may have no option to admit that you're a felon and served time since they may have your police report on their desk. We're living in an era where having nothing more than an arrest record, even if no charges were ever filed, is grounds for suspicion. It doesn't even matter if you were someone walking their dog and rounded up by the police in some kind of illegal kettling, you have a record.
driverdan 10y ago
Felon here. I haven't had trouble finding work. I have highly desirable skills though so I recognize it's much harder for others.
st3v3r 10y ago
Sure, but that's not another entity doing it, that's due to your own actions.

praxulus 10y ago

If you voluntarily enter into a contract in which you agree not to do a certain kind of work later in exchange for compensation now, it's perfectly legal for the other party to enforce that contract (unless it was in the form of a non-compete and you live in e.g. California.) This is a matter of labor standards, not individual liberty.

pyre 10y ago
It's hard to argue that a competitive salary for work done is "payment" for not doing something later on. If they are paying an above average salary for the job, it might be arguable.

alkonaut 10y ago

It's possible to sign a contract with unreasonable terms, but such a contract may or may not be enforacable. If you happen to live somewhere where a contract can have a noncompete for 6 or 12 months without compensation, and it also happens to be enforcable there, only then do you need to worry about this. A noncompete without compensation likely isn't enforcable in many places (Although it may be in some or most of the states of the US).