5 ms·
My experience is that (1) Most threats like this aren't legally credible (2) That doesn't stop employers from filing (and losing, if not settled) lawsuits. For
by gibba999 5y ago
My experience is that (1) Most threats like this aren't legally credible (2) That doesn't stop employers from filing (and losing, if not settled) lawsuits.
For most employees, a lost lawsuit means you lose 2 years of your life, get PTSD, and go bankrupt. You might recover legal fees after you've lost the house. Yay!
If you've got a megabuck, you're okay. If you live paycheck to paycheck, you're SOL. If you're a high-income / low-savings immigrant from a low-income country, you're SOL too. You settle. It doesn't matter if they have no case. You settle.
As a footnote, this dynamic does play out re: grad students versus elite universities, under NDA. Source: I know MIT does this from first-hand knowledge, and I have suspicions about a few peer schools.
- ghaff 5y agoThe very existence of a non-compete will also scare off some employers. I worked for a very small company for a number of years and we basically wouldn't even talk to anyone who had a non-compete even if it seemed low risk. Just wasn't worth it--especially if they were from a client.
- Meph504 5y ago> re: grad students versus elite universities, under NDA. I think it is important to not conflate NDA and non-compete, NDAs have a validate place, and are likely what should be used instead of non-competes in most situations.
- mattkrause 5y agoCan you elaborate on the grad student NDAs? I'm surprised, because this seems like it would undercut the whole point of grad school (i.e., publishing) and it's very different from my experience (NDAs limited to patient data, etc).