[musesum]

In California, Labor Code Section 2780 gives some rights - and some exceptions.

In previous agreements, I've listed prior inventions that were not assignable. Recently, I was presented with an agreement that had what I thought to be a similar exclusion section. But, no; it was worded in a way that could grant company a license to all my listed IP. Moreover, a colleague took the legal department to task because it could have been interpreted either way: either exclusion or assignment. Pretty ingenious. So, I put in that section "No IP assignable to company" By then I was going to air-gap all my work. I bought a separate laptop. Use a separate phone. Filed provisional patents the last day of my previous gig.

I don't fault the company for erring on the side of caution. The question to ask is: "does what I want to do directly compete with the company's core business?" If yes, then you have a problem. If no, then they probably won't care. In my case, the IP didn't compete. But, I decided to make a clean break, anyway.

(Not a lawyer - MMV)