I'm just wondering what the stance on non compete agreements are for the sub, and also share my story and possibly get advice for moving forward.
When I began working for my company I signed my contract and began working for a “probationary period” after the 3 months they brought me a non compete agreement to sign. While in college I had been warned about these and they told us to push back on signing them because they can be very limiting for future employment. I had never signed on before as I'm pretty fresh out of college, but part of the reason I got this job is because I had several years of experience at different competitors.
So I told them I had some questions about it because several clauses were very strict and would make getting a job where my work experience was at all relevant. Like cant work for a competitor or vendor for 3 years after leaving company even doing different work than what I'm currently doing. My boss basically told me that it couldn't be enforced by a court, but I told him the courts could still decide that some parts could be enforced by a judge with blue pencil laws. I also told him that even tho they may not intend to enforce it if I go to a job interview and they ask if I have a non compete I have to say yes, and that will probably make my application get dismissed more easily. He also told me at the meeting that they were trying to hire someone who had a non compete with another company and said that it was a pain (not fully seeing the irony).
Anyway, at the end of the meeting he told me I could email HR with my questions and hold off on signing it until I get my questions answered. It has been 9 months and HR hasn't emailed me back and everyone else seems to have forgotten about it, except the secretary who emails me every few months that my continued employment is dependent upon signing it since my original contract says that I will have to sign a non compete agreement. My plan is to completely avoid signing this until I leave in a couple years.