Confidentiality agreement was signed by you with a non-compete clause, but employer didn't sign, is it valid?

Question

If a confidentiality agreement with limits to your future employment in related work field if you ever terminated your current employment was sign by you, but was not signed by the employer that does have a spot for the employer to sign, is it valid? Can an employer terminate our employment if we refuse to sign it?

Answer 1

Hello PSA - yes, because when the employer presents it to you, it is implied that he/she will sign it, and they can/do after the fact. My brother-in-law chose not to sign it (implying that he would indeed be competing against them if they let him go) and he was told he would not be hired. (This is the non-compete agreement being presented at the time of hiring.) Also, there is a time limit - for some of the pharmaceutical sales companies, the non-compete agreement holds for three months; for some computer sales companies (e.g. XEROX, SUN, etc.), the timeframe is much longer.

Although they can be hard to enforce (you'd have to get a lawyer to look at how iron-clad it is), they are designed to try and prevent fired or laid-off sales employees from taking their contacts to another competing company and AWAY from them. If you are already employed and the non-compete confidentiality agreement is presented after the fact, and all employees are told them must sign one (maybe the company was sold and the new management/ownership requires it), it can be a condition of continuing employment. It also depends on whether you are in a right-to-work state where a company (or an employee) can choose to terminate the employment situation without any notice, and without any explanation. Not hard to figure out who made that legal. So, yes and yes are your answers.

(former legal secretary)

Answer 2

The agreement is valid if it signed by the person who will be bound. In this case that's you, not the employer.

If you are an at-will employee, the company can terminate you for refusing to sign. In certain states (notably PA and the Carolina's), an agreement signed by an existing employee may not be valid unless the employee has received additional consideration. In the majority of states, however, you c an be told sign or you are fired.

Also, in most states, non-compete agreements are enforceable. Except in Florida and a couple of other states, there is no per se time limit. As a rule of thumb, courts will often enforce one year non-compete or non-solicitation agreements.

Answer 3

Your employer can terminate you if you refuse to sign as it is a condition of the employment - however, if they don't sign it's not valid....though it can be phrased as a verbal agreement and the contract is proof that you understood the terms but then the judge would ask why they didn't sign the contract. Hmmmmm

Answer 4

Unless there is something that would require their explicit assent in the document, they do not need to sign it. It is binding upon any signer. So for example, if I sell you my house and file the deed with my signature, it is valid as a contract between us even though you failed to sign it. If you did sign it, you would strengthen the enforcement of any covenants I have against you.

Noncompete and nondisclosure agreements can and will be enforced if they are specific and reasonable. You can be terminated for refusal to sign it.

Answer 5

If you sign something that says things like "I agree to .....", then it doesn't matter if someone else signs it or not, unless they are committing themselves to some aspect of the document as well.

The first poster is correct in that noncompete agreements are not typically considered legally binding, but there are some cases where they are. Better seak legal advice if you're not sure.

Yes, an employer can refuse employment to you for refusal to sign one, even if it is not legally binding.

Answer 6

Warning... I'm not a lawyer, however, I've been told that most non compete clauses won't hold up in court because they infringe on employee's right to work.

Answer 7

Call their bluff and find out for all of us! But if you want to play it safe, check your local area (state?) labor laws.