I'm supposed to sign a non-compete that effectively covers all software development/data engineering/AI/devops (and probably much more) for any company in or job serving the financial industry for 12 months. The company is in NY, I'll be working in NY, and the jurisdiction is NY. Based on my understanding, this is likely unenforceable as over-broad. I spoke briefly with 2 lawyers familiar with NY employment law and both agreed with my reading, though getting a formal opinion would be expensive. The company is huge, so if they chose to sue me I'd obviously lose but that's true even without the agreement. So I'm mostly worried about other employers being scared off. Here's a good summary of NY non-competes: https://ottingerlaw.com/new-york/non-compete-agreements/ Anyone have any experience jobhunting in NY while under a likely-unenforceable non-compete ? Anything I should document before I sign this thing ? Or have any insight into the likelihood of enforceability ? Note: this is all very specific to New York so experience elsewhere probably isn't relevant.
Look at the history of the company and see if they've sued ex-employees before. You can negotiate the non compete clause. My personal rule: Never work for a company where the non compete is > 6 months.
IMO, that’s already a sign that the company culture is shit. I wouldn’t consider the place unless they’re paying significantly more specifically because of the bullshit.
An opinion letter from an attorney is less expensive that trying to litigate advice from Blind. Get the opinion letter. Get the new job. If problems come up, go after the attorney for malpractice. Paying the attorney is basically buying insurance.
If you are a typical hire, you can object to the non-compete but it will almost certainly not go anywhere. You have a choice of signing or not signing, but it is equivalent to accepting or not accepting the offer. You may try to negotiate the conditions (e.g., compensation) during the garden leave but do not expect them to budge. Note that other employers (in finance) will treat the noncompete as enforceable. However, it is common for the next employer to pay someone who is sitting out their garden leave, making non-competes less painful. If you are some sort of an exceptional hire (trader with some magical track record, head of blah, etc etc), then negotiating the non-compete becomes possible, though do not expect to eliminate it completely.
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Tell them if you like their offer that you are holding because of the ridiculously broad non compete agreement. Make it clear to them that you’re not prepared to leave the whole industry for a year or more just because you might leave the company. The worst they can do is insist you sign to get the job and the decision will still be yours.