3 ms·

If the employer wants the NDA to be part of the agreement, they should include it in the conditions of the employment contract. If they offer me a separate con

If the employer wants the NDA to be part of the agreement, they should include it in the conditions of the employment contract. If they offer me a separate contract to sign for their non-disclosure terms and I agree neither verbally nor in ink, I think it's a stretch to call it a misrepresentation of my position. Given that this type of contract usually offers absolutely nothing in exchange, it would be more reasonable to assume that I don't agree, if I don't sign it or express agreement otherwise. Also IANAL, but at the very least I don't think that this is unethical.

Bartweiss 9y ago
In every case I've heard of where someone was pressed for misrepresentation, it was for actively misleading the other party. Verbally agreeing to the NDA then not signing might count. Signing a fake name would obviously count. Editing a digital contract before signing might count, and not highlighting the edits in a "track changes" negotiation would probably count. If you returned the papers and said "these are all set" or something, I guess you might be at risk. But just... not signing a thing? If someone puts it in front of you without negotiating or asking for consent, then accepts it back unsigned? I've never heard of a lawsuit arguing anything even close to "I handed him a paper, so he should have spoken up to tell me he wasn't signing it", and I can't imagine it'd go anywhere. (On which note, every NDA I've seen has been explicitly brought up to ensure that I was ok with it. But I guess that's not universal?)