Re: non-compete clauses

[Katherine Pyle <kathpyle -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

>Deciding not to sign, regardless of whether you sought counsel, would be a
>tough call....has anyone ever _refused_ to sign?
>
I have refused.

In fact, I will not even consideer working for a broker who has a clause
like that.

I think it is reasonable, perhaps, to ask me not to work for a specific
client for at year after I finish a brokered job for that particular client
("client" being defined as a single department in a single company, or
perhaps a single location of a large, multi-site company. This is because,
otherwise, the broker has a very real risk that I will quickly quit my
brokered contract and immediately turn around and start working for the
client company under a direct contract at a cheaper rate. And that would
not be fair to the broker who got me the job originally.

But to tell me that I can't work for that department of that company
without the broker, or for any other branch of a big company, or for any
company that is/was a client of that broker, or any company that is a
client of the broker's client company.  Forget it!

Even if the clause is unenforceable, as my lawyer says in the case,I don't
want to work with a brokerage that is that greedy, or that is willing to
try to trick me into believing an illegal, unenforceable clause is
legitimate.

Katherine Pyle
Berkeley, California, USA

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