In the era of fake news, it is hard to know what is right and what is not. Everybody is trying to influence everybody, and in the end, you do not know who to trust, especially on social media or even on the news.
Only when things are written on paper, we are all sure to know what is real or not. You heard and probably even said: “I have it in writing”, “put it on paper”. And when you have it on a signed contract, everybody believes they have the holy grail because they know without a doubt what can and can not happen. WRONG.
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Non compete agreement
- Non-disclosure agreements (NDA): In normal people language, it is a secret that people decide to keep. An example is when Trump got the porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep it secret that he paid her $130 000 to sleep with her. When she breached the NDA, Trump’s lawyers sued her for 20million dollars. This is an extreme example of lying with a contract. But it makes the point. While NDA can be enforceable if you break it, the consequences of breaking an NDA cannot be out of proportion. What is out of proportion? Suing someone for $20million when that same person got paid $130 000 in the first place.
- Non compete agreements: Again, in normal people language, it is your commitment that you will not use confidential information to start your own business or work for a competitor. Usually, employers put in a contract that you can not work for 1 year for a competitor. The majority of the time, that clause is just worthless. There is only a handful of specific situation an employer can enforce a non compete agreement. And because of that, if you want to bypass a non compete, there are loads of ways.
I am not a lawyer, Don’t carelessly break a NDA or a non compete after reading this post. But, be aware that there is a way out. “contracts are made to be broken”.
