[ale] Numbers 8 and 9

[JD]

On 05/22/2013 01:38 PM, leam hall wrote:
> They have control of your off hours work? Obviously saying anything negative or
> sharing corporate information is a no-no; but I didn't think any corporation
> could control your off hours time.

Employers have been having employees sign agreements for years that may or may
not be legal in any specific jurisdiction.  Laws in GA changed in the last year
to make employers have more say than employees thanks to uninformed voters (IMHO).

Whether any company will fire someone over release of general information or not
is something each person will need to decide. They certainly can make is
uncomfortable to remain employed or just give "suck work" to someone they would
like to encourage to leave. I've seen this. Many companies have all their
employees sign over all rights to any work and business ideas (at all) to the
company on the first day. It isn't like you know all the legal paperwork when
you accept a position, have left your old job and still have a mortgage payment
in a few weeks.  Do you sign or not?  I've signed those agreements in the past
and I've been forced to re-sign modified agreements in less than 24 hrs or it
would be considered my resignation.  For the record, I signed.  Knowning what I
know today,
a) I wouldn't sign under similar duress - my knowledge and skill is worth more
to a company than modifying a foolish legal standard that "everyone must sign" -
they'd freak out if just a few key people refused to sign.
b) Many of these restrictive clauses are put in by lawyers to preemptively
restrict employee outside work.  INAL.

Whether all or part of these agreements will stand up in a court is a completely
different question.

Georgia changed the non-compete law to make it extremely one-sided last year. It
was voted on and the corporations won. The amount of time basically doubled from
1 year to 2 and anywhere in the state can be included.  If you have a
non-specific non-compete in your employment agreement, expect a modified version
with GA and 2 yrs to be coming. The easy way around this is to move to a
different state. Of course, this is just my interpretation - check with your own
lawyer for your specific situation.  Lower level employees probably do not have
much to worry about, as most companies will not sue them. If enforcement isn't
sought - it doesn't matter at all, right?

Companies based in California are used to completely different labor laws which
seem to be friendlier towards individuals being allowed to switch companies as
they like.  Of course, whether California-based companies are good for you or us
is a different question.