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by bsharitt 3430 days ago
I was considering taking a job recently(would have been 100% remote) that had the same kind of vague "everything you do is ours" clause(also had a similarly vague non-compete) in the contract when I received the job offer. I brought it up and mentioned I can't sign this contract because these issues. The most I could get out of the guy was, I can't think of it every getting forced so sign the contract and don't worry about it. If were out of work and really needed a job I probably would have, but I ended up turning down the offer.
2 comments
embwbam 3430 days ago
What I usually do in this case is redline the contract and sign it. (Meaning, edit the clauses you don't like in an obvious fashion. Tell them you've done this.)

They will often not want to go to the trouble of going back and forth with the contract and will just accept it.

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x1798DE 3430 days ago
> Tell them you've done this.

Pretty sure you don't have to tell them if you return the contract to them modified and they sign it. They weren't going to tell you all the objectionable parts of the contract, so why give them information you're not required to give?

(IANAL)

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NetMonkey 3429 days ago
IANAL either, but from experience everything that can be seen as shady is very dangerous if it comes to a court case. It makes you look like the bad guy, and can easily be used by a good lawyer to remove focus from what should really matter.

You want everything to be as clear as possible, and with no obvious points that can be called into doubt. Even if you end up winning, you don't want a court case that drags out for multiple years, with devastating legal costs to cover while its going on.

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tracker1 3430 days ago
That's been my experience as well. I won't sign these types of clauses and haven't had issue with lining out offending portions, or adding them in...

Some of the docu-sign sites even have tools for this.. others don't.

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LanceH 3430 days ago
I hate the "it doesn't really matter, so do it our way argument."

If anyone says it doesn't matter, we'll be doing it my way. Scratch it out, sign the changes and submit it back to them. Remind them they don't care about enforcing it anyway.

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