[bumby]

The parent comment of the one I replied to was specifically referencing IP as a use case for NCA. You allude to “knowledge” of IP warranting higher pay. Besides, elsewhere it’s discussed how NDAs can act as de facto NCAs due to the inevitable disclose doctrine.

[caskstrength]

> Besides, elsewhere it’s discussed how NDAs can act as de facto NCAs due to the inevitable disclose doctrine.

And that is much better case than NCA since it would only apply in specific narrow cases and wouldn't prevent a McDonalds employee from working in fast food industry for a year, for example.

[bumby]

I don’t disagree, but considering HN is mostly tech-focused for the purposes of this discussion it’s can be a distinction without a difference. Note how the original thrust of this sub-thread is about tech-heavy IP being grounds for preventing employment with a competitor. Also elsewhere I’ve mentioned how some jurisdictions provide caveats, like refusing to enforce NCAs when an employee earns less than a certain threshold (eg $75k). That covers most of your McDonalds employees while still holding true to the intent of NCAs as it comes to IP heavy industries. Well-crafted laws don’t throw out the baby with the bath water

[caskstrength]

> I don’t disagree, but considering HN is mostly tech-focused for the purposes of this discussion it’s can be a distinction without a difference.

I disagree. Big tech companies often force employees to sign very broad non-competes ("You can't go to a company that competes with us in any market") which in case of such companies covers almost everything (which tech company doesn't compete with Amazon in some way?). Granted, as far as I know big tech rarely enforces non-competes in case of regular ICs, but I would still prefer NCAs to be unenforceable and let the quant firms argue in courts regarding inevitable disclosure for some specific narrow cases where it is applicable.

> Also elsewhere I’ve mentioned how some jurisdictions provide caveats, like refusing to enforce NCAs when an employee earns less than a certain threshold (eg $75k).

I don't see why salary makes a difference here. Some random FAANG IC also shouldn't be forced to sign a NCA.

> Well-crafted laws don’t throw out the baby with the bath water

What baby? SV "baby" seems to be doing just fine in Cali with unenforceable non-competes.

[bumby]

What you’ve highlighted is that you’re having a different discussion than the OP. That post specifically said there are use cases where NCAs protect IP. You highlighting when they are used elsewhere doesn’t negate that point. And there are significant cases on the news where an employee steals trade secrets and takes them to a competitor (see Levandowski among others). It comes across like you have an axe to grind rather than making a thoughtful point.

[caskstrength]

> That post specifically said there are use cases where NCAs protect IP. You highlighting when they are used elsewhere doesn’t negate that point.

I consider my position (employers can and should use other mechanisms to go after employees that _really_ stealing their IP instead of forcing NCAs on every random McDonalds employee or even junior tech IC) valid reply to position stated by OP. I stand by my words.

> And there are significant cases on the news where an employee steals trade secrets and takes them to a competitor (see Levandowski among others).

Levandowski example proves my point though since he did it in a state that doesn't enforce NCAs and Google found the way to go after him.

> It comes across like you have an axe to grind rather than making a thoughtful point.

That ad hominem was uncalled for.

[bumby]

It wasn't an ad hominem, it was illustrating how you're side-stepping the actual point being made to cry foul about something different.

To underscore it one more time, we both agree that there are other mechanisms like NDAs that protect IP. However, when used in conjunction with the inevitable disclosure doctrine, these prevent someone from being hired by a competitor. So they are doing the same thing as NCAs in the vein of the OP. If the end is the same (prevent hiring by a competitor to protect IP), your point is a pedantic distinction without a difference. If you disagree, you need to provide a rationale as to why an NDA + inevitable disclosure scenario shouldn't be allowed to prevent hiring by a competitor.

Levandowski's trial was settled before it concluded, so it doesn't really prove much in terms of legality, other than the term "trade secret" is nebulous and companies will use whatever is at their disposal to protect IP. One of the takeaways for many companies is that they need to rigorously pursue NDAs with their employees which, again, would have the same potential consequence as NCAs when inevitable disclose exists.

Your whole argument belies a misunderstanding of IP law.

"If an employee knows trade secrets, they should be paid not to move"

(except, knowledge doesn't equate to IP rights)

"Other mechanisms exist to protect IP"

(yes, except some of those mechanism also prevent being hired by competitors, so it doesn't really do much in terms of changing the outcome in the cases pertinent to this discussion)

"It's dumb to have McDonalds employees sign NCAs"

(smart legislators have already addressed this by refusing to enforce NCAs for lower-salaried employees who aren't at risk of exposing trade secrets)

Rinse and repeat, ad nauseum because you either aren't getting the distinction or don't want to understand it so you can 'stand by your words'.