Non competes
Anyone ever get out of a long (6-9 months) non compete for a fund in NY/CT that during the non compete period is: 1) unpaid 2) offers 0 benefits (health insurance etc) 3) covers all investment firms globally. Seems excessive and am in need of advice. Thank you all
No chance it holds up if unpaid, the courts are already very anti-NC even for fully paid. Have you already started the notice period or are you just hypothesizing?
Thank you, I'm just hypothesizing for now but I am planning to recruit later this year for something new in 2024. Some folks told me something similar (doesn't hold up if its unpaid) but personally haven't seen one in practice. The people that have left my firm ended up taking a sabbatical because of burn out so no real data points and were gladly OK with being out of the market for a while.
Get a lawyer if not two on your contract. Worst instance to save money.
Won’t hold up
Thanks everyone for the feedback! I will consult a lawyer (or two) when I get back into the market later this year or early next year.
Unfortunately, unpaid non-competes *are* enforceable, and I speak from personal experience. I signed one thinking it wouldn't hold up, but when I left, I hired a lawyer and turns out yes they are enforceable. (And even if it is not enforceable, you still need to at least threaten a lawsuit to prove that, and the new company that's hiring you will probably be afraid to get involved in a lawsuit, so you'll be on your own fighting your former employer). Sometimes the company will negotiate a shorter period as a gesture of good-faith, but if your non-compete is only 6-9 months it's unlikely they'll go lower.
Have you given notice yet? If not, your best bet is to tell your boss you're looking to move on and you'll stay as long as they need to hire and train your replacement, but in return you expect them to waive the non-compete or at least cover your health insurance. They might agree to it. In my case, my new employer was helpful about negotiating a peaceful exit with the old employer and promised my old employer to make sure I wouldn't work on the area that was directly competiting with my old company.
For what it's worth, NY currently had a bill pending to ban all non-competes -- it passed the assembly but has not yet been signed by the governor.
See my "Most Helpful" post on this thread -- https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/hedge-fund/non-compete
I was in the same situation as you and that might help.
Thank you! Appreciate the personal experience and the strategies. I have not given any notice yet - I am planning to recruit later this year / Q1 so I was re-reviewing the docs I signed with respect to non-competes (so this is all hypothetical). Ya, I have been following the FTC's proposal for non-competes and the NY proposal. Unfortunately, I think the NY one that is sitting with the governor is not retroactive. But does help for future situations!
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