I have signed non compete agreements before but they have always included them paying me to do so. I left one job and I had a 6 months agreement not to go to a similar job within 150 miles.
I said okay but you know owe me, $12,000 for this to happen per the agreement.

They told me good luck at your next job. I told them I will be started there in two weeks.

I know here in Alabama a non compete will only be held up if the person is paid for such time to not go to a competitor. If the company refuses to pay you compensation, you are free to start the next day at the other job.
Now, you can agree and sign it where they only have to pay you $1, and if you take that $1, you have to abide in that agreement. In other words, a company has to give you something for you not to go working for them in a certain time frame.
Of course you cannot go and give trade secrets and steal the customers from the other company per any agreement, with or without compensation. Per your agreement.

I hate non compete clauses. I have not used them for the past 10 years or so. I say, if you are not happy the road out front goes north and south and good luck. Life is way too short for that kind of junk.

I was taken to court for a non compete I had signed once upon a time.. quit the company I was working for when they changed the pay plan without notice, went to work in the same town (midland) for a competitor the next week. It didnt work out too well for the company as the judge said they would have to provide me with a list of their customers they didnt want me to call on.

I've always understood that Texas is a pretty tough place to enforce a non-compete. The specifics have to be defined in the agreement, as far as who you cannot work for, or customers you cannot poach, as well as a defined timeframe. Then they also have to compensate you commensurate with what your earnings potential would be if you did the things forbidden in the agreement. $10K per year does not equal most salaries, so agreements like that would not stand.

Reminds me of the old adage “I’m afraid if I train them they will leave” and the response “what if you don’t and they stay?”

I take it you never owned a business from ground up.

Big pump companies quit training the hands to do all the jobs back in the 70's for these reasons. Business owners have huge investments for them to build a business. Take any trucking company and the outlay of cash to start up and you bring in a 25 dollar a hour hand that goes in and does a good job and then goes across town and sales his knowledge to another trucking company and they go drop the charge ten cent a mile and bankrupt first company. I can go on about pump companies training their hands to sale, engineer well/pump sizing, and then go and install. The install has to take care of cable, put unit together and then set up pump panel. The hands use to do it all and make good money. The companies because of hands working a few years learning how everything works and trouble shooting then leave for a dollar a hour more money and costing 60-100 thousand to train these guys and you think that is ok. They no longer train their hands to do it all so now it takes 5 hands to do the same job and each makes pennies on the dollar for what they use to make and now no one person can know everything to make it feasible to really hire hands away except low number of hands.

There are lots of reasons for having protection a machine shop can be the same. The only way to protect their investment is to have protection. The thought we should bankrupt a small business just so a hand can go try and take knowledge he learn from you to go make a extra .50 a hour and cost you maybe your company is total BS.

the business owner who risked everything a lot of the time should have just as much right to his knowledge that makes his business profitable as the hand who spent 6 months there and took the information and went somewhere else. The greed of the employee shouldn’t be able to destroy a small business or any other business. The reason we lost a lot of our small mom and pop stores is this right here, no loyalty. The middles class is being destroyed for greed because people don't want to pay the extra 10-15% to keep neighbors in business which is everyone's right to chose but it doesn't make it right and it hurts the middle class and people who will work hard to built a small business. just my .02

Did the Cowboys sign one of these? Cause they never put up much of a competition.

Bazinga punk!!!

Non competes are not useless. I've seen several hold up in court. I've seen several get negotiated down. I've seen several fall apart completely. The only real way to know whether or not they will hold up is for a judge to make that decision. Which could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in legal fees.

I don't know what the right answer is, but the current program is not good for employees. This is likely a good move, get rid of them.

The logic behind a non compete is valid. The logic against a non compete is also valid.

The rules are pretty clear but people don’t want to follow them. That’s been my experience. Guy makes a deal, then changes it because they no longer value your effort and suddenly develop hand cramps to write the compensation that was their plan to start with. Then act surprised when you no longer accept their idea of twice the work for half the pay.

Those are the non competes that fail

Actually I have built and ran a business from the ground up. I wouldn’t want to work for an employer that looks at people in such a way that they make them sign non compete in the way they have been doing them. Every company thinks the customer is exclusively theirs and it’s rarely the case. Most B2B transactions the customer is using multiple vendors and suppliers so it’s very arrogant to think you have people locked down.

*sells
*sell

Another attack on freedom.

It is my firm belief that you should have the right to negotiate away your ability to compete if circumstances make that in your best interest.

non compete are to protect companies from employees going to work and finding out how that company runs their business and taking that to competitors and they hiring you to use that information to go take business from your previous employer. Did you really not understand that from my post. No one cares if you go talk to a customer, what they don't like is taking their knowledge of how they run their business and letting new company use that information to take business that is stealing not good business and that is how the chinese do it. You go and take customers on your own knowledge that's just business.

So you are ok with someone going to work for you for say 6 months learning what you charge, how you take care of your customers that benefits the customers that the competitors don't know. Your employees take all that information to your competition and teach them what you do and then under cut you and change the way they are doing business to how you are doing and then taking your business. Thats is stealing, by the employee and competitors by inducing them to steal your trade secrets and use them against you. that's how socialist countries do business. I saw that in china. you can sue for trade secret theft if you can prove. That is actually illegal to steal trade secrets.

This about tearing down the middle class, they have been tearing apart the patent laws for last 20 years to make it easier for big companies to steal IP and trade secrets.
The law states if its someone else ideas and trade secrets its owned by them. I don't think complaining that we should make it easier for employees to steal and take to another company so they can line their pockets off of information gotten from previous company is BS

I have been on both sides of this argument and know it well. I have no problem with a employee going to new company but if they are being hired to help secure the same type of business from new employer by giving them information you learn from past employer that is stealing and illegal which is why non competes were first designed. Why would anyone want to invest their time and information to built a company and risk everything maybe even their houses or 401K's to start a business just to lose it to another company because they came and hired your employee so they can find out how you run your company or get the specs on how you built your product or any number of things. You want to make more money go built a business of your own. just my .02

OK thanks I am sure that was needed to explain. Your help is much appreciated

Dad always told me not to hire illegals not only cause it's illegal but also cause they will learn your business and cut your throat and steal your customers...

AMEN or a business should have the right to ask if they want to protect their company from trade secrets or any other reason. you have the right not to go to work for them.