It seems that once again, we’ve reached an all time low when it comes to people who sign non-compete agreements. I didn’t think anything would compare with a 16 year old teenage girl signing a non-compete agreement in order to work in a summer camp in Massachusetts.
It was reported in the Seattle Times that a maintenance worker had been asked to sign a non-compete agreement that stated that if he leaves, he can’t work for two years doing similar work in ServiceMaster’s area. Maybe the only good thing about the agreement was that he wouldn’t be fired and be told that he can’t work for two years in the geographic area since that is usually standard in non-compete agreements such as the one I signed 8 years ago.
Since this article appeared, there have been a lot of people on Twitter sharing their thoughts, most of it being outrage that this should never have happened. Yes, who would have thought that a maintenance worker would be put on a non-compete agreement since he was no threat to Servicemaster.
The truth is that this shouldn’t be a shock for people who are reading this article. Non-compete agreements are in just about every profession now from hairdressers, dog and cat groomers, maids, and people who work at fast food restaurants such as Subway, PotBelly, and Jimmy John’s.
The explanation for all this is that corporate America is squeezing blue collar workers. To me, that is only part of the truth. The other part is something that has not been discussed yet.
The real reason for this is because employees across American are not protected from their employers since we are on non-compete agreements.
As one of my employment lawyers said, companies like mine have an attitude that they’re doing you a favor that they’re giving you a job because they can fire you at any time for any reason and they don’t have to give you anything, not even a severance package. This should be illegal but it’s not illegal. It’s up to the government to do something about this. If the government continues to ignore this, then this will continue.
Of course, the subject of regulating non-compete agreements is taboo since we have newscasters at Fox News, Republicans, and Tim Allen saying that big government should get out of the way of big business. Yet the answer is that non-compete agreements such as the one that Benny Almeidia and I have signed have been thriving for over 15 years because the Republicans in the state and local governments have been opposed to any regulations on non-compete agreements.
One example would be in New Jersey where the Democrats in the Assembly brought up legislation that stated that if someone was fired from their job and forced to collect unemployment benefits, then their non-compete agreement would be invalid. This legislation did not pass due to opposition from Republicans. Chris Christie had ignored this bill and did not say anything about it during his election for Governor.
In any case, I was busy a few days ago, calling State Senators in the Washington State area. Of the six people that I called, non of them were aware of the story in the Seattle Times on Benny Almeida. That shouldn’t be a shock since this story did not run on any of the news or cable networks as well since they never heard about it either.
In all cases, the representatives that I spoke with listened to me intently as I explained the article to them and told them that they can find it by going Seattle Times and non-compete agreements. The response I received today was that the representatives were very interested in the article now and there would be a discussion about this.
In Benny Almeida’s case, since he signed the agreement, nothing can be done to change that since it would be unconstitutional to invalidate his contract due to state laws in Washington State. That would be the reason you would see legislation that would only help people who didn’t sign a non-compete agreement going forward. Nothing can be done for people who have already signed a non-compete agreement.
So, the question would be this? Would the State Senators and Assembly people be able to pass legislation that would regulate non-compete agreements? That would be tough considering the fact that the Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and they are in favor of big government staying out of the way of big business.
With all this in mind, the future does seem grim in having non-compete agreements regulated in Washington State or any other state for that matter since Republicans, along with newscasters at Fox News and Tim Allen, continue to say that big government should stay out of the way of big business. As a result, this means that more maintenance workers will be asked to sign non-compete agreements.
Is there a way that this can be changed. Well, the answer would be to leave it up to the people who live in the Washington State area. They can call their representatives and tell them that they want non-compete agreements regulated. If the representatives disagree, then the good people of Washington State can fire the people who are in office, which in this case is Republicans. That is the only way that things will change.
In any case, people have a lot to think about when they say that they are outraged by non-compete agreements. The truth is that as long as the government does nothing, then it will continue. And one day, you could receive a memo from your company asking you to sign a non-compete agreement as well.
Ron Hummer
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