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Comment by mipmap04 | Hacker News Reader

You had to sign something as you were leaving? What if you just refused to sign it? What are they going to do? Fire you?

Edit: also, I have refused to sign non-competes in the past and still been hired. This is something you can negotiate at some companies.

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> You had to sign something as you were leaving? What if you just refused to sign it? What are they going to do? Fire you?

Seriously. NEVER EVER sign anything on the way out of a job. Don't be a dick about it, but don't sign.

What if one is being laid off and the company offers them a severance package of X weeks pay for signing some papers?

X weeks for a 2 year non-compete? nah. Make it equal to the duration of the non-compete and then we might be talking.

Assuming I'm not an expert in some incredibly narrow and lucrative field, if I were being laid off and they offered me fully compensated garden leave (with no offsets) in exchange for a two-year noncompete I'd accept that in a heartbeat and spend that time learning something new in a totally different industry. Thanks for the scholarship!

I wonder if the 6 month "consulting agreement" is 6 months of non-compete. This statement from the article seems to hint that: "Jim will be serving at Intel for at least another six months it seems, in the role of a consultant, so it might be that long before he lands another spot in the industry."

Yes, it’s a common “gardening leave” strategy.

I had that happen to me once. But they said 'here's the paperwork, take it home and review it, have a lawyer look at, whatever you feel like; you have two weeks to decide'.

Any reasonable company would do it this way unless they are trying to screw you.

If they don’t give you time to review the terms and you later want to sue a court could find the agreement invalid. If they’re rushing you to sign the paperwork immediately that’s a red flag and you should definitely talk to a lawyer before you sign anything.

> What if one is being laid off and the company offers them a severance package of X weeks pay for signing some papers?

That's not crazy -- they're compensating you for the inconvenience.

Whether that's a good idea or not is a different story, and would depend on how easily you could get a job, what it would pay you if/when you got it, and how much/how long the compensation would be.

In the oil industry it's not uncommon to see 1- or 2-year non-competes... with 100% compensation for the same amount of time.

That's different.. it's unlikely that this offer would be made to you "on your way out the door".. and then you have time to review and see if the deal is worthwhile.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I meant signing stuff during your exit interview, so on your last day and quite literally on your way out the door.

They can not give you a severance

Do they really hand out severance when you're voluntarily leaving? Typically that's for layoffs or "soft" firings.

For cases when you sign a noncompete when you leave, that's going to be in the case if a layoff or soft firing where they've got leverage over you. Otherwise fron what I've seen on NY where noncompete can be enforced, the noncompete is signed when you get the job. For the case where you're signing things when you leave though, that's when they've got a severance to hold over your head.

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