Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!usc!hacgate!ashtate!dbase!awd From: awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Rigid Mac Programmer's Employee Agreement - Help!! Summary: Everything's negotiable Message-ID: <103@dbase.UUCP> Date: 12 Jun 89 23:42:39 GMT References: <8906101404.AA09781@jade.berkeley.edu> Organization: Ashton Tate Devlopment Center Glendale, Calif. Lines: 26 Yes, that's a standard employee agreement, and from what little I know of the law, it sounds enforcable in California. I've paid lawyers to explain this topic in the past . The key thing is that your outside work has to be very different from what you were hired for--if they pay you to write Mac programs and you develop one on the weekends, it's theirs if they choose to exercise that right. If they pay you to write software and you produce a novel (or a software book) it's not theirs (or at least it's open to interpretation). The other key thing is that the limit is 1 year after you leave them, not forever--forever is not enforceable, I'm told, unless they give you some compensation for each year of forever.:-) Everything is negotiable, of course, but, as I say, this sort of contract is standard (I'm bound by something similar at Ashton-Tate, and I signed much the same as an architect working for Disney). The rub here is that fast-growing software companies like employees who dive in and work 100 hour weeks on the company's products, not work on outside ventures. So, you're right that they'll take a dim view of negotiations which leave you free to pursue a second career. On the other hand, if you are indispensible at the company _and_ you disclose to them a new program you've developed, they are much more likely to work with you to market it (and pay you royalties) than they are to sue you, fire you, or otherwise lose your talents to some other company. Companies are exploiting our talent, sure, but they _need_ us--I, for one, wouldn't have it any other way :-). /alastair/