I work at a retail/piercing shop for $12 an hour. She gave it to us Saturday, and wants us to sign it tomorrow in front of a notary or it’s our jobs. We are in America, so everything is closed today for Labor Day. There are rumors she is being investigated for tax fraud (an old coworker has been trying to get unemployment and failed because there the state has no record of them being paid).
Obviously we aren’t signing it.
The entire document is 11 pages long and there is a whole lot in here that seems sketchy, but these are the parts that stand out to me as the worst:
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The Employee agrees that during the Employment and for a period of two (2) years after the end of that term, the Employee will not give advice or lend credit, money, or the Employee’s reputation to any natural person or business entity engaged in a competing business in any geographic area in which the Employer conducts its business, and the Employee will not, directly or indirectly, as employee, owner, sole proprietor, director, member, consultant, agent, founder, co-founder or otherwise, solely or jointly with others, engage in any business that is in competition with the business of the Employer within the following geographic areas: (Town) and surrounding counties.
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The Employee waved any moral rights that the Employee may have with respect to the Confidential Information.
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In the event that the Employee is required in a civil, criminal or regulatory proceeding to disclose any part of the Confidential Information, the Employee will give to the Employer prompt written notice of such request so that the Employer may seek an appropriate remedy or alternatively to waive the Employee’s complied with the provisions of this Agreement in regard to the request.
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The clauses, paragraphs, and sub paragraphs contained in this Agreement are intended to be read and construed independently of each other. If any part of this Agreement is held to be invalid, this invalidity will not affect the operation of any other part of this agreement.
I posted on the legal subreddit to ask for legal opinions, but wanted to both share the audacity and I guess ask for other opinions. If this is illegal I want to bring her down so she can’t treat other people like this in the future.