Signing Away the Right to Get a New Job

[McFurd]

The New York Times - 5/13/2017 - Conor Dougherty - Noncompete clauses, once for top executives, are spreading across the labor landscape — making it tougher for Americans to get a raise. Keith Bollinger’s paycheck as a factory manager had shriveled after the 2008 financial crisis, but then he got a chance to pull himself out of recession’s hole. A rival textile company offered him a better job — and a big raise. When he said yes, it set off a three-year legal battle that concluded this past week but wiped out his savings along the way. “I tried to get a better life for my wife and my son, and it backfired,” said Mr. Bollinger, who is 53. “Now I’m in my mid-50s, and I’m ruined.” Mr. Bollinger had signed a noncompete agreement, designed to prevent him from leaving his previous employer for a competitor. These contracts have long been routine among senior executives. But they are rapidly spreading to employees like Mr. Bollinger, who do the kind of blue-collar work that President Trump has promised to create more of. Read more @ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/busi ... c=twr&_r=0