After university, I got a job at the IT department of a payment processing and debt collection company. My desk stood next to the call center: I listened all day to how people on the allowance make purchases beyond the means and get into debt. When several sales managers left and started their own business, taking customers with them, the company took action. She made everyone in the office, from data entry employees to support operators, sign non-competition agreements. This was the first non-competition agreement that I refused to sign. Over the next fifteen years I will be asked several times to sign such papers, always before being hired. I have always refused, and until recently this has never become an obstacle to taking up a post.

A non-competition agreement is usually part of a standard employment contract, job offer, or non-disclosure agreement. It states that an employee, for a certain time (usually one year) after the dismissal, undertakes not to start a business that competes with the business of the current company, or does not work for a competitor. If this sounds illegal, then in the state of California it is .

In 2017, Illinois passed a law prohibiting such agreements for low-paid workers, usually at a rate below $ 13 per hour. Even in states where such contracts have not been banned, they are often declared invalid. From a purely ethical point of view, they limit one of the most basic prerequisites of capitalism: the freedom to choose whom to work for. This agreement actually puts the employee in the position of the debtor in relation to the current employer, although the debt is not financial.

Real examples

Below is a non-competition agreement that I found in a job offer from a company that I worked for in New Zealand:
')

24. LIMITATION OF TRADE
24.1. Until the written consent of the Employer is obtained, the employee does not participate directly or indirectly in any business that is in direct competition with the employer's business for two (2) months from the date of termination of this Agreement. This restriction can be removed if the Employer makes sure that the Employee is not “in conflict” with the company when he enters a new job.

I expressed objections to this part - and I was invited to speak with the director. The clause in the contract is not very limited in scope, although limited to a reasonable period (two months). However, I expressed my concern. The director said: “In New Zealand, it still does not work,” and then: “Maybe we will just delete this clause for you?” Later that week I received a contract version without this clause and immediately signed the paper.

In 2016, I came across an agreement on non-competition in the contract of the employment agency Apex. The recruiter said that they had situations where potential employees had disagreements with the standard contract, and that the legal department would not allow any changes. She then tried to convince me that the following statement was not an agreement on non-competition:

9. Within six (6) months after the end of the last assignment of the Contract Employee for the Client, this Employee has no right to perform any actions for this Client that are the same or substantially similar to the activities performed by the Contract Employee for the Client when he was hired Apex - as an employee or contractor from any other company that hires employees to provide services on a temporary basis in the interests of outside companies and, therefore, is a competitor to Apex. This clause 9 does not apply to Contract Employees residing in California or North Dakota.

Despite the recruiter’s statement, the above item clearly represents a non-competition agreement. This is clearly indicated by the fact that it does not apply to residents of California, where such agreements are illegal. I had to challenge him. Although I had a shortage of funds after a long trip abroad , I still felt uncomfortable, putting my basic right to work at risk. But the recruiter offered an additional agreement signed by the director, removing any working restrictions from my contract. The following agreement effectively cancels the non-competition clause:

... As discussed, you contract with Apex and work under the direction of                 at Getty's Seattle office. ... If you or Getty Images cancel your contract, Apex Systems Inc. will not prevent you from working under a contract or directly through any competing recruitment agency. You, Sumita Hannah, will not have any restrictions on work after being fired, except for working at Getty Images under the guidance of                 through another recruitment agency. ...

So, technically, I still signed a contract with a non-competition agreement, although I had a separate agreement that effectively annulled it. Over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to take an uncompromising position with regard to such agreements. The following points are included in the non-competition agreement from SpringCM:

1e. Restriction on Intervention in Employee Relations. During the Work of the Employee at the Company and within 1 (one) year after termination of the Contract (for any reason), the Employee shall not directly or indirectly contact or hire any employee of the Company for any type of employment, consulting or other work with the Employee or any other person . An employee should not in any way encourage such an employee of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to terminate his employment relationship with the Company.
...
...
g. A warning. While working at SpringCM and for two (2) years afterwards, the Employee undertakes: (a) to provide the company with a written notice at least thirty (30) days prior to commencing work for a Competitor or participating in a Competitive Activity; (b) provide the Company with sufficient information about its new position so that the Company can determine whether the actions of the Employee in the new position may lead to a violation of this Agreement; and (c) within thirty (30) days from the date of the Company's application to participate in negotiations through an intermediary or in person to discuss and / or resolve any issues arising in connection with the new position. The employee is liable for all consequential damages caused by the failure of the company to provide the notice provided for in this clause.

This is an absolutely strange contract, as it includes not only an agreement on non-competition for one year, but also requires an employee to apply for work permits with a competing company within two years after leaving! In which inverted world, does anyone even consider it ethical or moral to demand from a person in a free society to ask permission to work for someone else? Their HR representative said that a change of agreement required the approval of the CEO, which happened only once in the last six years. In the end, I left this company.

Even worse, many non-competing companies often ask potential employees to disclose all of their non-competition agreements with other companies. They ask if you have previously signed such a binding agreement, and then ask to conclude another similar agreement. An example can be seen below in the job offer that Rally Health sent me.

10. Absence of Conflict Obligations.
I declare that my fulfillment of the terms of this Agreement and my work do not violate and will not violate any agreement between me and any other employer, client, individual or legal entity. I have not entered into and will not enter into any agreements in writing or verbally that contradict this Agreement.

When I was looking for a job in Chicago, two companies offered me a job with a non-competition agreement in employment contracts, which their lawyers refused to remove or change in any way. In the past, five different companies offered me contracts with such a clause. When I paid attention to it, they all changed the document, usually without any problems. Now it seems to me that even if I wish, I do not have the right to sign a non-competition clause - simply out of respect for all previous employers who listened to my opinion and helped to reach the amicable compromise.

I rejected both offers and eventually agreed to a job that included a non-competition agreement, but they agreed to change this clause so that it would not act after the dismissal.

Ignoring the agreement

Regarding the non-competition agreement on the new job, several friends told me: “I sign them, but then just ignore them.” Handling an employment contract as an EULA on iTunes or mobile app agreements is probably not the wisest option. A good friend of mine once tried to quit after two years of work. He wanted to accept an offer from another advertising and marketing company. She directly asked if he had signed a non-competition agreement with the current employer. He answered positively, and this did not allow him to move to another job. Even if the law is not enforced, most companies simply will not take the risk. A potential legal action is never the best option when hiring a new employee.

Intellectual property protection

Some companies will argue that such agreements are necessary to protect their investments and intellectual property. This is simply not true. When applying for a job, engineers are often required to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), agreements on copyrights, patents, clients ’non-lure agreements and countless other agreements that guarantee that all employee’s work belongs exclusively to the company. Non-competition agreements are a way to show that the company's assets seem to go beyond ownership and apply to the person himself, as if the employment contract gives the company rights to employee skills and mandatory loyalty .

When Uber was hired by Anthony Lewandowski , Alphabet, the parent company for Google, did not have to rely on a non-competitive agreement to accuse Uber of stealing intellectual property on autopilot technology. Living in California, Lewandowski could, after his dismissal, freely work for Waymo's direct competitor (Alphabet subsidiary). In the startup capital of the world, this makes sense if the engineer feels that, in the absence of restrictions, the current employer is able to create the best product. Such a resolution of competition can foster innovation, but it requires engineers to erase everything from memory. It does not allow an individual to directly steal assets created during the work under the contract and resell them, which Waymo blames Lewandowski.

We do not have unions

Many engineers known to me are ready to sign an agreement on non-competition, if it is narrowly worded. Personally, I have never left any company to work for a competitor, so I have purely moral beliefs against such agreements. Non-competition, in fact, puts a potential employee in debt. If the agreement is narrowly formulated, then we can say that this is a limited form of debt. But still debt.

So what is debt? Debt is only a perverted promise. This is a promise, distorted by calculation and violence. If freedom (real freedom) consists in the ability to make friends, then it must also imply the ability to make real promises. What promises can truly free men and women give each other? Here we even have nothing to say. Rather, the question is how do we get to the place where we can figure it out. And the first step on this path will be the recognition that, in the broadest understanding of things, no one has the right to call our true value, just as no one has the right to tell us what we really should. - “Debt: The First 5,000 Years of History,” David Graber

One of the main essences of capitalism is freedom. In particular, employees should have the right to freely decide to whom they will give their time and resources. Non-competition agreements threaten this basic right. The employer already owns all the works and intellectual property rights of the employee. Employer's rights should be limited to the work done, and not extend to the actual knowledge or skills of the person. From a purely capitalist point of view, non-competition agreements are highly anti-competitive. I told some employers that I would sign a non-competition agreement only if the company pays me full wages for one year during which this agreement is valid. If this sounds crazy, the same can be said about the non-competition agreement itself.

Workers in the technology industry have already transferred many copyright, patent, invention and intellectual property rights to their companies. The agreement of so many engineers to sign non-competition agreements harms our industry. Such documents have a tendency to suppress innovations - and this is one of the reasons why they are prohibited in California, the startup capital of the world.

I am a programmer. We do not have trade unions, and we do not bargain collectively. The basic rights of workers are our responsibility, and the refusal to sign agreements on non-competition is important to protect our right to work.