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Comment by bla2 | Hacker News Reader

Certainly makes Amazon a less desirable employer for me.

Exactly. I had genuinely considered working there. Cancel that idea.

me too.

Makes working in states that allow NC less desirable - maybe the VC/PE industry needs to not invest in states that have NC laws.

Or just set up companies such you are employed by company in CA.

Just let them know up front you wont sign any non-competes.

Companies with hundreds of new-hires every week, don't customize their contracts.

Without new hires like the parent companies will slowly die. Those hundreds turn into a dozen.

So, it's a contract of adhesion then? Get that in writing and your lawyer will be much happier with you later.

How does this pan out if they don't want to sign?

Obvious issues I can see are "don't put that in writing, pull the offer and don't say why" or "no, it's not adhesion at all, we just don't like any of these specific changes, you're welcome to try again!"

Obviously you don't use the words "contract of adhesion" or ask for that stance to be officially signed. You just send a friendly email to your point of contact expressing your concerns and asking for changes to things. If they pull the offer over bringing up your concerns over a non-compete, they're an abusive enough company that you're probably better off not taking the offer. If you tell them you're concerned about the wording and consequences of some terms, and ask what options you have, they'll likely tell you in an email whether or not you're allowed to negotiate or amend the contract.

I had to look that up, but yes, the Big Co's (AFAIK) will not negotiate on clauses of their employment contracts. Feel free to negotiate all you want on salary, stock, etc, but not the non-compete/etc.

Not sure what you mean by getting in writing. It is what it is.

There are different types of contracts. A standard form contract or "Contract of Adhesion" has certain limitations because it is where terms are created by only one party, in this case Amazon.

- While these types of contracts are not illegal per se, there exists a very real possibility for unconscionability. In addition, in the event of an ambiguity, such ambiguity will be resolved contra proferentem against the party drafting the contract language.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_form_contract

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