zlacker

> stare at you until you sign it because you are physically dependent on eating food every day

Even lowest level fast food workers can choose a different employer. An engineer working at OpenAI certainly has a lot of opportunities to choose from. Even when I only had three years in the industry, mid at best, I asked to change the contract I was presented with because non-compete was too restrictive — and they did it. The caliber of talent that OpenAI is attracting (or hopes to attract) can certainly do this too.

>>golerg+(OP)
> Even lowest level fast food workers can choose a different employer.

Only thanks to a recent ruling by the FTC that non-competes are valid. in the most egregious uses, bartenders and servers were prohibited from finding another job in the same industry for two years.

>>golerg+(OP)
I am typically not willing to bet I can get back under health insurance for my family within the next 0-4 weeks. And paying for COBRA on a family plan is basically like going from earning $X/mo to drawing $-X/mo.

>>atomic+T4
The perversely capitalistic healthcare system in the US is perhaps the number one reason why US employers have so much more power over their employees than their European counterparts.

>>fragme+P3
You're talking about what happens after a person signs a non compete, whereas my point is about what happens before he does (or doesn't) do it.

>>golerg+dg1
you say that like everyone had the luxury of making the choice not to sign those deals

>>fragme+IZ1
Exactly, and I explain why. If you want to argue they don't, I would be thankful if you exposed the error in my reasoning.

>>golerg+ma2
my argument is that some people don't, not without going homeless and living out of their car and eating off of EBT (in the US). if the choice was to sign a shitty non-compete, or get evicted, I find it hard to fault someone for signing such a contract. it's not a logic problem with your reasoning but that the reasoning starts from an (imo) unsound place.