Ask HN: New employee contract wave rights???

[0x01030307]

I received a formal job offer today.

It appears the legal jargon says anything at work or in my free time is owned by the employer? How is this the case? Do people still start companies anyway?

Thanks

[cimmanom]

Just ask to change that clause to cover only work done for the company (even if that work is done from home) or using company resources. Most will. If they won’t, walk away if you’re in a financial position to; or work there for a few months for the paycheck (holding off on your side projects in the meantime) and start looking for something else.

[mtmail]

Also helps never to mix company and private email (separate email accounts) and code (two computers). If the side-project becomes any serious, e.g. you want to register a trademark or you have to change your tax status because it brings in extra money, try to get approval in writing, can be as simple as an email.

If the company tries to claim "yes, it' in the contract, but we don't enforce it" you could point to the Facebook movie (The Social Network), where lack of clarity/paper-trail has cost somebody 10s of millions.