Sign NC after 7.6 years then Layoff?

[angellogan]

What is the name of your state? PA but live in NY

I was asked to sign a Non Compete agreement after 7.6 years at the same job. There was no indication anything was wrong with my job or my performance so thinking it would show I was a team player, I signed it. Well less than a month later my boss accused me of being responsible for not completing anything--ever; and Layed me off for lack of work. Well there was not a lack of work, and the allegations were so broad and untrue, I was floored! I feel I was ambushed and that this was planned for a long time now. I realize that the prevailing wisdom of this site is to get a Lawyer, but I am looking for a job and can not go any where in the industry I had spent so many years gaining experience in. It says I can't work in the industry for 2 years and if I am suspected of it, I will be sued to have it increased to 5 years! I am a Computer Programmer and you just can't turn off certain functions and even if you could, 2 years is an extreme hardship on my livlihood. I have a Programming Website and do not want him to force me to reveal my users and customers. If he let me go, then all interest in me should be gone as well. I have not broken the terms of the NC agreement but I want to find work in my field to maintain my level of pay. If I just go for a generic Programming job, the pay is significantly less. If it was the same, I wouldn't care.

 

[cbg]

Thank you for sharing your story. When you have a legal question, be sure to let us know.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Thank you for sharing your story. When you have a legal question, be sure to let us know.

Is someone having a snippy fit????

 

[cbg]

Not at all, Belieze. But I know better than to try to guess exactly what the poster wants to know.

 

[angellogan]

Question

My question is: Does anyone know if this signing followed shortly after by a termination after 7 years is enforcible, especially if it is my livlihood on the line. Could he force me to shut down my programming website if he is excluded from it or suspects I am giving away code that is related to what I did for him (which I am not)? I am sure the answer to the first question is "get a Lawyer, there is no one size fits all NC agreement", but I would appreciate a generally good reason to even get a Lawyer. I am broke right now, without a job (ya I know big deal). So this is why I do not want to go for it if I do not have a leg to stand on. And I may not have a legal leg to stand on when t comes to the NC agreement but at the same time, I want to protect my users and my personal customers I've had for years that do not have anything to do with him.

 

[cbg]

You are correct.

Whether or not ANY non-compete agreement is enforceable, depends to a great degree on the EXACT wording of the agreement itself. You would need to show it to a local attorney.

Unless NC law is quirky, the fact that it was implemented after hire, no matter how long after hire, would not affect its enforceability. And if this was asked of all employees, not just you, (something you do not specify) then the fact that you were termed shortly thereafter probably wouldn't either. However, at least in my state, a two year time frame would probably NOT be enforceable unless there was also a significant limitation geographically - i.e. only within 15 miles of the original employer's location. That's your more likely hook, not the time after hire.

 

[angellogan]

Thanks. We are more than 60 miles apart I am in a different State than that business and if I took a job in this particular field it would be farther away. It is this two year time frame and the fact that he may try to sue to make it five years. I do not have the money he does to fight him off. But I had never heard of that many years of being barred from what I do. I know I signed it, but I was thinking more about keeping my current job at the time, not how it would affect me looking for a job. I guess next time I will have to be more careful. I do not wish to compete with this employer, I just want a job, and it seems to me if I move far away from him, he can not come to my new residence and make me unemployed, and pay his cost to sue me. I'm rambling again, thanks for confirming what I suspected.