[TheMog]

If your spideysense is tingling about new clauses, talk to an employment lawyer (or a union if you are a member of one) in the jurisdiction that you live in. That's really the only way to get valid legal advice, and you want to understand what these clauses mean from a legal perspective. Usually they're written in legalese and the defined meaning of something in legalese tends to be a bit different from the coloquial meaning.

Also, don't forget that even if some of the clauses they're trying to impose on you may not be legal or enforceable where you live and work, it usually takes a court to make that determination. So it's a matter of understanding what the impact of these new clauses is and what risks you take by accepting them.

And please, please don't accept the "oh, but we're never going to enforce those clauses". You don't want to be the first person they get enforced against. If the employer comes back with that statement, ask them to take out the offending clauses.

[ghaff]

I'd just add that for some things like non-competes, even if the company wouldn't/couldn't likely enforce, they can be red flags for a potential employer. I worked for a very small company for a number of years and our COO wouldn't touch anyone with a non-compete even if it seemed likely there was no issue because they just saw it as too big a risk for our small firm to get into a legal tangle with a much bigger company.