I hate the company I work for....

[SMUMan02]

Nah!! There has to be ETREMELY SPECIFIC training involved. I doubt painting would qualify. NASA might!

I guess all of the books on my desk are wrong.

Sort of like the books about managing on Ron Washington's desk, huh?

[SOLID EAGLE]

I guess all of the books on my desk are wrong.

Sort of like the books about managing on Ron Washington's desk, huh?

No, you are right on target. Like you said, it has to be for a specific length of time and a specific geographic area for the moneys given.

I went through this once, they didn't spell out the time or the area. It was not enforceable. I got lucky.

[JonBoy]

They can let you go and force you to sign a no compete clause?

yeah but from what I've been told by several corporate lawyers, they're extremely hard to enforce in court and it ultimately is not in the company's financial interest to enforce them...

[kramer]

Sorry you had to drop this bad news on such good people. This is not going to be a popular comment but I have been thrown out of much nicer places.....MBA's are ruining the world. Companies hire these guys because they are "experts" at crunching numbers and cutting corners. What they can not do is have a relationship with a client or understand who actually drives the production at their company. You cant put a value on good employees at all levels of a company.

[DDP]

Senority just means that you are paid more and when companies are cutting expenses that means the higher paid people go. Its sad that company loyalty along with hard work doesn't mean a thing anymore.

[paintman]

our painters average 80-100k a year. They are not your average run of the mill painters.. Each one is highly trained in a array of applications and techniques that is very specific to what is needed to keep our customer base pleased.

Our dent tech's, 75,000 dollars is invested intraining before they are allowed to touch a customers car. And on average make 150k a year..

well i make more than your painters so i guess im not an avarage run of the mill painter either then

[CMcBride]

Sorry to hear it man i had to cut three back in June and it too was a corp decisson on who they cut not pretty, hopefully they will understand and will not think it was your decisson but still never the less we never fill good about it..

[Bowtechlady]

All employees have to sign a non-compete clause before they are considered for hire.... and if you are fired or quit you are again asked to sign another one.. The company is concerned that we will go out and steal their customers..

May be you should open your own company and hire these guys and "steal" their customers

[Bones]

They can let you go and force you to sign a no compete clause?

Sure..... Sort of.

Sign the non-compete and take the money, use it to hire a lawyer and sew for age discrimination. Then use the non-compete as toilet paper. Texas is a right to work state

Steve

[Fishndude]

I guess all of the books on my desk are wrong.

Sort of like the books about managing on Ron Washington's desk, huh?

I guess the court case I battled will be reversed based on you being an attorney and the books on your desk!

I only graduated the school of hard knocks so what do I know?

[Bones]

I should have read the rest of the thread....

Start your own shop and take all of their customers. The non-competes mean NOTHING!

Steve

[Eagles1181]

Nevermind

[Fishndude]

Start your own shop and take all of their customers. The non-competes mean NOTHING!

I built a company based entirely on this concept because I also hated my job(and they hated me)! Had I signed a non-compete? Yep!! Guess what.............!! Totally worthless!!

Maybe their lawyer just sucked! They should have gone with an SMU grad!!

[RL Fluke]

That just doesn't seem right. I hear stories like that all the time. Prayers out to those folks and their families.

[Texas Grown]

Dale, I would counter the "non-compete clause" with a "limited time" added to it. That way your emplyee's can get the bonus and not be as limited. They could start new business in, lets say 1 or 2 years, or three. It is part of standard negotiations. The Corp stands to loose a lot more $$$ if their customers are lost to a current competeing business vs the severance package. If Corp dosn't like the counter package, then show them the alternatives.