Amazon Employment Contracts
This clause raised an eyebrow: “4.1 Non-Competition. During employment and for 18 months after the Separation Date, Employee will not, directly or indirectly, whether on Employee’s own behalf or on behalf of any other entity (for example, as an employee, agent, partner, or consultant), engage in or support the development, manufacture, marketing, or sale of any product or service that competes or is intended to compete with any product or service sold, offered, or otherwise provided by Amazon (or intended to be sold, offered, or otherwise provided by Amazon in the future) that Employee worked on or supported, or about which Employee obtained or received Confidential Information.” Any thoughts on this being a bit limiting, or is this and industry standard? Also, if I wanted to negotiate or redline a change here, do I have any recourse against the almighty Amazon, or is it a take it or leave it kind of situation?
✨✨✨ I sense a PIP in your near future ✨✨✨
There are many accounts of people who have tried to get that clause changed and the response has been to just take it or leave it. https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/why-i-turned-down-an-aws-job-offer-revisited/ The legality is questionable but some states are more friendly to these practices. Notoriously, states like MA, TX and VA tend to award injunctions to former employers that can cause you a ton of grief and legal costs. They can harass you with a law suit just to discourage other people from leaving.
Standard in WA at Amazon. Illegal in California. Probably illegal in Europe, too. Other companies don't seem to have such terms, either. You can pay a WA lawyer to check if Amazon ever won enforcement. The last guy (bcantrill@) who did so, said the answer was a NO. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7975428