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I couldn't come to employment terms with a start-up because they were unwilling to indemnify. Turns out executives were covered, employees weren't. Their stanc

I couldn't come to employment terms with a start-up because they were unwilling to indemnify. Turns out executives were covered, employees weren't. Their stance was part of early employee risk of joining a start-up is not being indemnified; that risk was part of their culture at their current stage.

mikekchar 10y ago
I once refused to sign a contract that had me indemnify the employer for losses in the event that they terminated me. They wanted to be able to terminate me without cause and then recover damages that they incurred as a result of doing so. This was a big company too. Luckily the HR person didn't understand the word "indemnify" and so agreed to strike the clause. Afterwards the legal department tried to force me to sign a new contract, implying that I would no longer have a job if I didn't sign. I sent them an email saying, "Wanting me to sign a new contract does not seem to be one of the reasons for termination on my existing contract. Are you saying that you will fire me unless I agree to a new contract?" Contracts signed under duress were not legally binding in the country where I was working. They did not reply and I kept a healthy distance from the legal department for the time I worked there. Contracts are annoying. Next time I look for work, I'm seriously considering just hiring a lawyer to handle all the negotiations for me. One of the reasons I agreed to work at my existing job is that the contract had virtually nothing on it. I'm working on contract with them now, not full time, and they asked me to draw up the contract. I really like working with people like that.