Re: Resigning from a position

[Mark Sienkiewicz <mark@chokey.mo.md.us>]

>Personally I would _never_ sign something that says I will not work
>for a competitor for a period of time. To me, that is restraint of trade.

Obviously you don't have to accept a job that has unacceptable
conditions attached.  But do recognize that there is a good reason
that some employers ask for them.  In some businesses, knowledge
of a specific company is extremely valuable to other companies.

Suppose you are a key manager at Spacely Sprockets, and you know
a lot about Spacely's business plans, their suppliers, how they
make their gears, etc.

All that information would be extremely valuable to Cogswell Cogs.
Spacely doesn't want to hire you and teach you all about his
business, only to have you quit and take all that knowledge with
you to Cogswell.

The idea behind the non-competition agreement is that a year or
two after you've left Spacely Sprockets, your knowledge is no longer
current -- and because it is so old, it won't hurt Spacely as much
when you go to Cogswell with it.  Of course, it doesn't hurt Spacely
if you take your technical skills to a non-gear-related business.

It's not like you don't get anything for agreeing not to compete
for a while after you leave.  The whole employment deal is usually
pretty involved.  You agree to give the employer some things and
the employer agrees to give you some things.  By the time you get
an agreement (even if not a formal contract), it usually includes
a lot of things from each of you.

The whole question for anybody is whether the employer is asking
you to give something you find unacceptable.  That might be your
agreement to non-competition terms, or it might be too many working
hours per week, or it might even be your urine.  It depends where
you want draw the line.