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Comment by mwigdahl | Hacker News Reader

The problem is it won't get as far as trial, if the old company gets wind of it early enough (and they often do). The old company will reach out to the new company and politely inform them they believe they have grounds for a noncompete suit. The new company will either indemnify the worker, or (far more often) drop them as not worth the hassle, and take their #2 choice.

The legislation needs to change. The situation as it stands is ripe for barratry and bullying.

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You may not even get as far as an interview. More and more, I see job applications asking whether you are subject to non-competes, alongside asking about visa etc. I imagine answering yes will unceremoniously move your application to the reject pile.

It just means your start date is delayed. No different from interviewing a student whose graduation date is a year away or interviewing a foreigner who might require a few months of paperwork to get a work visa.

Most non-competes are at least 6 months but usually more than a year, and I have never worked in a company that was open to hiring someone with a start date that far in the future. Plus, the clock wouldn't even start running until they leave their job, so if you hire them for a start day in 12 months, they have to quit now and spend their savings. I have never met someone who was open to doing that. I am sure it could happen in very rare circumstances, but most jobs would be closed to most people with non-competes. I am glad that I live in a jurisdiction that doesn't allow them anymore.

That’s not at all my experience. I remember back in the college days every single company on campus was willing to interview students in fall knowing that they would graduate next summer. That’s at least 9 or 10 months of waiting. Because if a company waits until spring, all the best students already have offers and aren’t on the market any more.

> they have to quit now and spend their savings

Every single job offer I’ve seen with a non-compete is a paid non-compete. You get 100% of your base salary and zero bonus. In industries where non-competes are common, people know this. They have savings to deal with reduced income due to zero bonus. There’s a reason why the non-compete period is colloquially known as garden leave. You have enough savings so that you can literally work on your garden. Companies know they need to be patient and plan for hiring needs far in advance. It’s super predictable.

For most tech jobs with non-competes in the US, the non-compete is unpaid. Which is different than other industries such as finance.

Same here in Canada. I have had three non-competes in my career, none of which were paid. All of them were probably unenforceable if it went to trial, but I would have never gotten that far in the hiring pipeline. I instead opted to switch industries and move to a jurisdiction that doesn't allow non-competes.

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