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Can I be forced so sign something under penalty of perjury after my job ends?

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Steve Rubinek

New member
I worked at a company where I had signed agreement related to non-compete items and return of company material. Meaning I could not keep any information related to my company after my employment ends.
My position was eliminated due to the pandemic, I am no longer employed by the company. I have made every effort to comply with the agreement.

I received a threatening letter from an attorney demanding that I sign a letter under penalty of perjury that I did not have any company information. I do not want to sign this letter, and risk ever being accused or convicted of perjury. The attorney is threatening me with an injunction to force me to sign.
I am unemployed and do not want to pay for an attorney, so this is very scary.

Can my former employer force me to sign a letter under penalty of perjury after my employment has ended?
Is it ethical for an attorney to take this legal action?
 


zddoodah

Active Member
Can my former employer force me to sign a letter under penalty of perjury after my employment has ended?
Can it happen? Sure. Maybe your former employer will send Guido to your house and physically force you to sign the document. But I assume you're aware that's awfully unlikely.

Beyond that, how do you think you're being "forced" to do anything? You have a choice to sign or not sign. Either choice comes or may come with consequences.

You told us that you "do not want to sign this letter, and risk ever being accused or convicted of perjury." I can only interpret that to mean that, contrary to your statement that you returned everything, you did not, in fact, do so. If you had returned everything, then you should have no concern whatsoever about being accused or convicted of perjury.

Maybe it will help you to understand that a document such as you have described cannot be "under penalty of perjury" even if it says it is. You might want to google your unidentified state's perjury law so that you understand exactly what it covers.

I'm not really sure what the consequences are of not signing. The only way that your former employer could obtain "an injunction to force [you] to sign" would be if the prior agreement you signed obligates you to certify in writing that you didn't take anything.


Is it ethical for an attorney to take this legal action?
We don't have sufficient information to opine intelligently about this.
 

Steve Rubinek

New member
Thanks for this analysis.
As I previously stated, I have no company property, and have made every effort to comply with the companies requirements.
It would be damaging to me professionally not to comply.

A desire not to sign such a document is not an admission of guilt, just as asserting 5th amendment rights is not an admission of guilt. These kinds of issues have been affirmed by the SCOTUS time and again by both liberal and conservative justices.

My overall feeling is that employers should work these kinds of details out before a person becomes employed by them, not after employment ends, as you pointed out zddoddah. I am not required to sign this document pursuant to anything I have already signed.

An injunction is a rather powerful tool to use against a former employee, when the evidence is that the person will NOT sign a document.
 
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cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
If you have no company property, then you could not successfully be sued for perjury after signing such a statement.
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
As I previously stated, I have no company property, and have made every effort to comply with the companies requirements.
It would be damaging to me professionally not to comply.
Your repeated use of the phrase "made every effort to comply" leads me to believe that you have not complied, but have some reason/excuse as to why.

This is a yes/no question: Have you complied with the companies (sp) requirements?
 

zddoodah

Active Member
A desire not to sign such a document is not an admission of guilt, just as asserting 5th amendment rights is not an admission of guilt. These kinds of issues have been affirmed by the SCOTUS time and again by both liberal and conservative justices.
You need to distinguish logic from the rule of law. We all know that the rule of law is that asserting the 5th Amendment cannot, as a matter of law, be viewed as an admission of guilt. However, the whole reason why that rule of law exists is because, logically, a person with nothing to hide typically (albeit not always) has nothing to hide) assert the privilege against self-incrimination.

Your choices are (1) sign the document and be done with the matter or (2) not sign the document and possibly (but not necessarily) face consequences in the form of expensive litigation. What choice you make does not implicate any legal issue.


If you have no company property, then you could not successfully be sued for perjury after signing such a statement.
No one can be successfully "sued for perjury." Perjury is a crime; it's not a civil cause of action.
 

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