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> Shitty companies manipulating employees to stop them from resigning is something that exists in any country. I have never heard of it in the US. I’m sure som

> Shitty companies manipulating employees to stop them from resigning is something that exists in any country. I have never heard of it in the US. I’m sure some examples exist but I’d be really unpleasantly surprised if it’s a major social issue here.

travisgriggs 2y ago
Amen. IMO, it's an tortured example of Hanlons Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. I see tons of shitty stuff roll downwards to employees in US companies, but I never see the kind of competence at the upper levels to pull off the kind of manipulation implied here. It's just negligence, ignorance, and dysfunctionality that tends to screw us yanks at the bottom.
gampleman 2y ago
And what do you think a broad non-compete clause is? The goal is the same, just the means are different.
- hiatus 2y ago
  Does a non-compete prevent you from leaving your current employer?
- 0xBDB 2y ago
  > And what do you think a broad non-compete clause is? Pretty universally illegal. California doesn't have noncompete clauses at all. Texas, the state I'm most familiar with, doesn't allow them to be enforced except for skills that are proprietary to an employer, .e.g., supporting specific software in a specific way or something. Pretty sure most states that have them are the same. Making burgers isn't going to do it, and nobody would sue you over it anyway, they'd sue the new employer whose lawyers will know better. I have had an employer try to get me to sign an illegal noncompete before, but that was because it was a small employer who didn't know the law. When I quit I politely informed him that it was unenforceable. He didn't try. That doesn't mean employers who know better don't try to intimidate employees, but they could just as easily threaten to break your kneecaps. Probably they won't.
  - gampleman 2y ago
    So is this practice in Japan, but it happens there just as overly broad non-competes happen in the west. And probably in both cases if you are a well informed person in a position with decent labour demand you can deal with that sort of a problem without much trouble yourself. But if you are in a much weaker position, then having some form of outside assistance available is invaluable.

travisgriggs 2y ago

Amen. IMO, it's an tortured example of Hanlons Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. I see tons of shitty stuff roll downwards to employees in US companies, but I never see the kind of competence at the upper levels to pull off the kind of manipulation implied here. It's just negligence, ignorance, and dysfunctionality that tends to screw us yanks at the bottom.

gampleman 2y ago

And what do you think a broad non-compete clause is? The goal is the same, just the means are different.

hiatus 2y ago
Does a non-compete prevent you from leaving your current employer?
0xBDB 2y ago
> And what do you think a broad non-compete clause is? Pretty universally illegal. California doesn't have noncompete clauses at all. Texas, the state I'm most familiar with, doesn't allow them to be enforced except for skills that are proprietary to an employer, .e.g., supporting specific software in a specific way or something. Pretty sure most states that have them are the same. Making burgers isn't going to do it, and nobody would sue you over it anyway, they'd sue the new employer whose lawyers will know better. I have had an employer try to get me to sign an illegal noncompete before, but that was because it was a small employer who didn't know the law. When I quit I politely informed him that it was unenforceable. He didn't try. That doesn't mean employers who know better don't try to intimidate employees, but they could just as easily threaten to break your kneecaps. Probably they won't.
- gampleman 2y ago
  So is this practice in Japan, but it happens there just as overly broad non-competes happen in the west. And probably in both cases if you are a well informed person in a position with decent labour demand you can deal with that sort of a problem without much trouble yourself. But if you are in a much weaker position, then having some form of outside assistance available is invaluable.