Forced non-compete agreements should be illegal
Forced non-compete agreements should be illegal
Morale at work has been super low for the past few years, ever since the CEO/President bragged about how well they did in 2021 "record profits, over and beyond anything we ever expected" and 2022 "we barely made more than we did last year", but none of that success trickled down to the people responsible for that success. I'm surrounded by people actively looking for work elsewhere. So, to keep people from quitting, the company forced everyone to sign the agreement in the Imgur link I've attached. Of course it gives all power to the company, and of course we had to sign it under penalty of losing our jobs immediately.
This of course is in addition to Top Management blaming the Bottom Management for the morale issue, and rebranding poor morale as an "engagement issue". They're also forcing the workers to come up with solutions for the "engagement issue", going so far as to put it on our annual reviews. Part of our "goals for the upcoming year" is to deal with "low engagement". That's right, if we don't come up with solutions for our own morale problem, it will look poorly on our reviews.
I have worked for some brain-dead companies before, but I've never seen such myopia in Leadership. At least previously I knew I was getting fucked on purpose. Right now I'm not sure if it's an accident.
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I don't see how this is legal in any way to force you to sign an agreement like that. I'd be searching for a new job the second a company even consideres forcing me to sign. Also, I'd probably be petty enough to "accidentally" leak classified information that multiple others know of on some forum on TOR just to spite this kind of behavior.
IANAL but wouldn't making employees sign this after they are hired and have been working for the company be seen as coercion or signing under duress (threatened about losing your income if you don't sign) and make it null and void if challenged later?
Probably not. Employers can fire employees at any time for any reason at all.
I don't doubt they could be fired for not signing, I'm saying that even if they do sign they probably don't have to obey the contract since it was signed under duress. Then they can sign to keep their job, quit once they find another job and not worry about the non-compete.
I'm saying the "under duress" part doesn't apply. Your employer could tell you "wear a red shirt tomorrow or you're fired". And then, if you wear a red shirt, still fire you. All legal and all perfectly normal in the usa