Topics of Systems Administration
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@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
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This thread went to hell in handbasket.
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@VoIP_n00b said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller just post your resume.
And SSN, Birthdate and mothers maiden name.
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@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
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@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
You would have free attorneys lining up by thousands to take this case. Because it's that ludicrous.
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@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
If the case was a sure win, you'd have lawyers lining up ready to work on contingency.
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Yep assuming this was in NY (Wall St). It wouldn't even go to court.
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/non-competes.pdf
From NY gov :
Are non-competes legal?
A non-compete is only allowed and enforceable to the extent it (1) is necessary to protect the
employer’s legitimate interests, (2) does not impose an undue hardship on the employee, (3) does
not harm the public, and (4) is reasonable in time period and geographic scope. An employer’s
legitimate interest may include protecting an employer’s trade secrets and confidential
information and preventing employees from taking specialized skills they gained on the job to a
competitor. A non-compete’s restrictions must be no greater than necessary to protect the
legitimate interests of the employer.
To determine if a non-compete is enforceable, courts consider an employee’s job duties, the
employer’s business interest, and the language of the agreement. A court will not enforce a non-
compete unless it determines the non-compete meets the criteria in the above paragraph.
A court may require an employee to comply with some parts of a non-compete agreement, even
if other portions of the agreement are unreasonable, such as length of time or geographic scope.
Generally, upon finding portions of a non-compete unreasonable, a court may invalidate the
agreement entirely or may enforce the agreement for a shorter time or in a smaller area. -
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
Are non-competes legal?
A non-compete is only allowed and enforceable to the extent it (1) is necessary to protect the
employer’s legitimate interests, (2) does not impose an undue hardship on the employee, (3) does
not harm the public, and (4) is reasonable in time period and geographic scope.Well it fails (1), (2), and (4)
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@marcinozga said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
If the case was a sure win, you'd have lawyers lining up ready to work on contingency.
yep
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@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
Sadly, not how it works. People lose these all the time because when you have pockets that deep, that make it drawn out. It's nice to say that it'll just get thrown out, but it doesn't.
They DID go after me in another industry. They went after the company, too. In another state.
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@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
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No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
Exactly. The courts are local to the company, and heavily paid by their taxes. The company has deep pockets for attorneys and whatever court shenanigans that they can try. They have zero need to win, only to drag it out.
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@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
-
No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
You would have free attorneys lining up by thousands to take this case. Because it's that ludicrous.
Nope, none. It was super costly even without going to court. In the REAL WORLD, no one does this for free. This isn't a hypothetical case, I lived through it.
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@marcinozga said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
-
No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
If the case was a sure win, you'd have lawyers lining up ready to work on contingency.
Exactly. That's how scary this is... a "really likely to win", but with insane costs between now and then. Losing everything is a pretty big risk, even if you are "really likely" to win big.
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@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
Yep assuming this was in NY (Wall St). It wouldn't even go to court.
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/non-competes.pdf
From NY gov :
Are non-competes legal?
A non-compete is only allowed and enforceable to the extent it (1) is necessary to protect the
employer’s legitimate interests, (2) does not impose an undue hardship on the employee, (3) does
not harm the public, and (4) is reasonable in time period and geographic scope. An employer’s
legitimate interest may include protecting an employer’s trade secrets and confidential
information and preventing employees from taking specialized skills they gained on the job to a
competitor. A non-compete’s restrictions must be no greater than necessary to protect the
legitimate interests of the employer.
To determine if a non-compete is enforceable, courts consider an employee’s job duties, the
employer’s business interest, and the language of the agreement. A court will not enforce a non-
compete unless it determines the non-compete meets the criteria in the above paragraph.
A court may require an employee to comply with some parts of a non-compete agreement, even
if other portions of the agreement are unreasonable, such as length of time or geographic scope.
Generally, upon finding portions of a non-compete unreasonable, a court may invalidate the
agreement entirely or may enforce the agreement for a shorter time or in a smaller area.Not NY, not Wall St. Hence a huge part of the problem. That's why the industry doesn't use NY as its base, the enforcement of non-competes is part of the draw.
But to be sure, they threatened a giant NY firm and got them to rescind a job offer because of the lawsuit of the non-compete even in NY. So nothing you say changes that they managed to enforce it. The law has nothing to say on the matter, it's the threat of a lawsuit against an employer that does the actual damage.
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@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@marcinozga said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
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I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
-
No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
If the case was a sure win, you'd have lawyers lining up ready to work on contingency.
yep
Exactly, and they weren't. It was full price and VERY hard to find someone willing and able to do it. Had to find a specialty lawyer as non-competes like this are super unique.
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@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
Are non-competes legal?
A non-compete is only allowed and enforceable to the extent it (1) is necessary to protect the
employer’s legitimate interests, (2) does not impose an undue hardship on the employee, (3) does
not harm the public, and (4) is reasonable in time period and geographic scope.Well it fails (1), (2), and (4)
yup, all sounds nice. But we are talking real world here. And common law says that the judge decides the case based on his opinion not the written law. There's no such thing as a guaranteed win in the US and with deep pockets, any case can be drawn out.
All of those reasons were considered "really likely" to protect me, eventually. But none of them do anything for you when you have to pay a lawyer to defend you in court.
I think you've never dealt with a corporate lawsuit where they have money to burn. It sounds nice to show NY law codes and say that they mean X, but given that it's not NY and that what the law "means" is anyone's opinion, that doesn't matter. What matters is that lawyers are expensive, court cases are risky, and the potential damage is staggering.
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For reference, a hedge fund LOSING a non-compete is so uncommon, that it makes the news. Nothing that makes the news like this, involving two employees, is ever a "guaranteed win". This is an "unlikely win that astounded people."
https://www.pionline.com/courts/bridgewater-loses-case-against-former-employees
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@marcinozga said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@travisdh1 said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@IRJ said in Topics of Systems Administration:
@scottalanmiller said in Topics of Systems Administration:
As my employer said at the time "You can't bag groceries in Oregon", that was their policy. No job, of any sort, anywhere in the country. Their policy was that they were a "US business" and "all US business" was a competitor. Clearly that doesn't work in court, but the number of people who had won against them were.... very few. Famously, two just did a few months ago. But it's taken that long.
Wow that is totally illegal and would never even stand up in court. Hell you could probably represent yourself in such a scenario and still win.
-
I can almost guarantee they would not go after you if you went to another industry
-
No way that is holding up in court. No way that takes 10 years to win. Maybe 10 weeks?
You do know how slow the courts are to react to anything, right? Also most people could never hope to pay a lawyer that could take on a company of that size no matter how wrong the company is.
If the case was a sure win, you'd have lawyers lining up ready to work on contingency.
So here is someone who fought the non-compete. Thankfully they won so the info went public. Their lawyers cost them $2 million!
$2m is a lot to have to spend to "hopefully win". Now they won, and won big. But they took a gamble, one that for someone with little kids, it's pretty hard to take. But you don't fight these guys with free lawyers, even if any existed, because any mistake and you lose literally everything.
Normal people can't just pay $2m to fight a company like this, but that's what it takes. If you don't have that kind of money, your "unenforceable non-compete" is essentially iron clad. That's how US law works. If you can't afford to fight it, no rights apply to you. Just how it is. We can't claim the law is on our side all we want, but until we can afford the attorneys and court costs and risks, it doesn't even exist for us.
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They also got busted for falsifying evidence. This kind of stuff increases the risks if they lose, but makes it far harder to fight when you go to court and they make false claims.
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And it's truly crazy to think that hedge funds like this would be willing to enforce non-competes if losing was so easy. They'd lose out of hand over and over again. But they don't. Sure, they lose once in a while, but mostly they win. Their win by either making it impossible to fight, to scary to fight, or just too likely to be drawn out so long that it's a loss no matter what happens. And remember, no company can safely employee you until you win, because they are named in lawsuits, too. So hiring someone fighting a non-compete is completely insane as you take on an absurd amount of risk for "no reason". No employer, anywhere, will knowingly hire someone with a non-compete case going on. And before you say "just don't tell them", they get served by a lawyer before you start - they always know.
Hedge funds will do this because it works, over and over again. Their tactics either win often enough, or draw out cases long enough, to get people to settle or whatever. They only need to drag out the court case the length of the non-compete (which doesn't take much in the US legal system) to win, then they can quickly make a settlement with a gag order and walk away having won. Sure, costs them some money, but money that they consider well spent.
They'd not do this if they and their teams of lawyers didn't think that it was working and would continue to work. So when we say "this would never work", remember that it does work, all the time, and highly paid legal professionals advice it because it's so effective.
