contract law question

[mikedev10]

my brother wants me to sign his name on a non-compete agreement that says among other things that if he gets fired, he won't work for a competitor for 18 months. he would then hand it in. if he gets taken to court he thinks it would not be legally binding.

i said i thought this was silly, and if he's right then it puts the blame on me for forging his signature anyway. if he hands it in i think it implies he agreed to it, and for all they know he could have signed it left handed. he doesn't like signing it left handed because if he said he didn't sign it in court, he would then by lying. i said if he's really uncomfortable with it just to tell the company that and say that he wasn't signing it, but he doesn't want to disrupt the waters at a fairly small company.

what say you?

i feel like i should note that the likelihood of any of this happen is quite unlikely, and the question is asked out of an exercise in curiousity rather than knowledge we think we'll really need to apply some day

[mikedev10]

Re: contract law question

maybe this should have gone under ask itulip...

[swgprop]

Re: contract law question

my brother wants me to sign his name on a non-compete agreement that says among other things that if he gets fired, he won't work for a competitor for 18 months. he would then hand it in. if he gets taken to court he thinks it would not be legally binding.

i said i thought this was silly, and if he's right then it puts the blame on me for forging his signature anyway. if he hands it in i think it implies he agreed to it, and for all they know he could have signed it left handed. he doesn't like signing it left handed because if he said he didn't sign it in court, he would then by lying. i said if he's really uncomfortable with it just to tell the company that and say that he wasn't signing it, but he doesn't want to disrupt the waters at a fairly small company.

what say you?

You might try posting this question to a forum such as FindLaw.

[Atlas]

Re: contract law question

If you're asking yourself these kind of questions then you already know you shouldn't do it. You know your playing games and if you get caught it won't be worth it, but if you like to live dangerously....

[metalman]

Re: contract law question

my brother wants me to sign his name on a non-compete agreement that says among other things that if he gets fired, he won't work for a competitor for 18 months. he would then hand it in. if he gets taken to court he thinks it would not be legally binding.

i said i thought this was silly, and if he's right then it puts the blame on me for forging his signature anyway. if he hands it in i think it implies he agreed to it, and for all they know he could have signed it left handed. he doesn't like signing it left handed because if he said he didn't sign it in court, he would then by lying. i said if he's really uncomfortable with it just to tell the company that and say that he wasn't signing it, but he doesn't want to disrupt the waters at a fairly small company.

what say you?

i'd say it sucks more here than 10 yrs ago but it ain't russia yet...

[WildspitzE]

Re: contract law question

my brother wants me to sign his name on a non-compete agreement that says among other things that if he gets fired, he won't work for a competitor for 18 months. he would then hand it in. if he gets taken to court he thinks it would not be legally binding.

i said i thought this was silly, and if he's right then it puts the blame on me for forging his signature anyway. if he hands it in i think it implies he agreed to it, and for all they know he could have signed it left handed. he doesn't like signing it left handed because if he said he didn't sign it in court, he would then by lying. i said if he's really uncomfortable with it just to tell the company that and say that he wasn't signing it, but he doesn't want to disrupt the waters at a fairly small company.

what say you?

no offense man, but all these plans sound silly. what he should do is talk to a lawyer about it, especially to determine how enforceable it is.

also, he should try to negotiate a little bit - if he gets fired for cause, then he may be willing to accept certain risks, but if it's a rif or if the company is exiting the business, then he may not be willing to accept certain risks. he may also want to attempt to document what the severance would look like in the event that he gets fired under the latter scenarios. he may want to negotiate what "for cause" means, etc etc.

[thunderdownunder]

Re: contract law question

Question? what do you personally gain - answer nothing (but trouble)
End of lesson

[*T*]

Re: contract law question

I don't know about in the US, but in the UK, this would not be a legal contract even if signed. Because, everyone has the right to work. You could only enforce a non-compete if he resigned or took voluntary redundancy. If he was fired or made redundant a non-compete clause could not be enforced.

Ask a lawyer.

[Nivelles]

Re: contract law question

A court will take a very dim view of any conspiracy to forge a signature, for any reason.

[cbr]

Re: contract law question

1) most US states will enforce "reasonable" covenants not to compete; the employer knows this. 18 months is generally considered reasonable if there is intellectual property at stake, sometimes even if not.

2) it is not as unlikely as you think.

3) if he hands it in with a signature that appears to be his, he has in fact given his implied consent and it will be enforceable.

4) you cant get out of an agreement through 'unclean hands' of forgery. There could also be criminal ramifications. Further, he'd certainly be fired if anyone found out about it.

5) if he doesnt like it he should either refuse, demand more pay for the concession, or suck it up.

6) ps: if he wants to leave, tell him not to try to take electronic data or 'erase' his steps prior to leaving; any decent company will bust his butt bigtime.