The Alliance for Open Competition is a group of employees, entrepreneurs, investors and executives dedicated to fostering innovation throughout the US. We seek to breakdown a major barrier to entrepreneurialism: the use of non-competition agreements mandated by employers that force employees to sign away their rights to engage in any business of a competitive nature when they leave their present jobs.
Today California does not enforce employee non-compete agreements except in the specific case of a merger or acquisition. We agree with that position.
Unfortunately, Massachusetts, New York and Washington are among dozens of other states that still enforce non-compete clauses.
We believe that employment non-competes are stifling the emergence of start-up companies in these states, forcing innovative entrepreneurs to take on tremendous legal and financial risks, and hampering the ability to meet our fullest economic potential as a nation.
To be clear, we do support non disclosure agreements and non-solicitation agreements. The Alliance is opposed to non-compete agreements. They are different issues.
Please sign this petition if you support our efforts to ban employee non-compete agreements.
Thanks for your support and please spread the word!
The Alliance for Open Competition is a group of employees, entrepreneurs, investors and executives dedicated to fostering innovation throughout the US. We seek to breakdown a major barrier to entrepreneurialism: the use of non-competition agreements mandated by employers that force employees to sign away their rights to engage in any business of a competitive nature when they leave their present jobs.
Today California does not enforce employee non-compete agreements except in the specific case of a merger or acquisition. We agree with that position.
Unfortunately, Massachusetts, New York and Washington are among dozens of other states that still enforce non-compete clauses.
We believe that employment non-competes are stifling the emergence of start-up companies in these states, forcing innovative entrepreneurs to take on tremendous legal and financial risks, and hampering the ability to meet our fullest economic potential as a nation.
To be clear, we do support non disclosure agreements and non-solicitation agreements. The Alliance is opposed to non-compete agreements. They are different issues.
Please sign this petition if you support our efforts to ban employee non-compete agreements.
Thanks for your support and please spread the word!
We signed the "Support the Alliance for Open Competition" petition!
# 51:
6:35 am PDT, Oct 21,Charkes Dietrich, New York
As a former Massachusetts resident, I support the effort to ban non-competes.
# 50:
9:43 am PDT, Oct 8,Larry Gillick, Massachusetts
# 49:
6:58 am PDT, Oct 5,Alan Gordon, Massachusetts
I strongly support the efforts to ban employee non-competes. The evidence is strong from other states (i.e. California) that MA should ban these. It is good for innovation, good for the state of Massachusetts, and good for the residents and workers of this state!
# 48:
4:02 pm PDT, Oct 4,Sylvia Scott, California
In 2004 with the Women's Leadership Exchange and my dismissal-I was making $68,000. I would not sign a non-compete at the time of being released because of the restrictions imposed on a national basis. I therefore lost out on a month's severance pay. I had to pay a lawyer to review the non-compete agreement which made me even more upset. Later one of the owners tried to keep me from a job in Atlanta even without the agreement.
# 47:
7:33 am PDT, Sep 28,Myron Kassaraba, Massachusetts
# 46:
5:12 am PDT, Sep 10,Sharon Davis Canty, North Carolina
# 45:
5:23 pm PDT, Sep 2,Nora Gilbertson, Minnesota
# 44:
9:37 pm PDT, Aug 28,Name not displayed, Massachusetts
# 43:
1:38 pm PDT, Aug 27,Nancy Keenan, Massachusetts
# 42:
9:55 am PDT, Aug 19,Name not displayed, Massachusetts
# 41:
7:00 pm PDT, Aug 18,Marisa Panos, Massachusetts
# 40:
1:17 pm PDT, Aug 18,Ayikudy Srikanth, Massachusetts
# 39:
9:00 am PDT, Aug 12,Ryan Graves, Illinois
# 38:
7:20 am PDT, Aug 6,Name not displayed, Massachusetts
# 37:
3:12 pm PDT, Aug 5,Name not displayed, Massachusetts
# 36:
3:32 pm PDT, Aug 4,Chris Crandall, Massachusetts
As someone who has started multiple businesses (and worked for other start-ups), I believe non-competes are ridiculous.
# 35:
12:00 pm PDT, Aug 4,Scott Scheibner, Massachusetts
# 34:
10:59 am PDT, Aug 4,Geoff Mamlet, Massachusetts
# 33:
10:43 am PDT, Aug 4,Name not displayed, Massachusetts
# 32:
9:41 am PDT, Aug 4,Joan Geoghegan, Massachusetts
Try starting a business with a two-year non-compete! It's a recipe for failure. The MA law needs to be changed.
# 31:
9:39 am PDT, Aug 4,Scott Weller, New Hampshire
I agree that intellectual property, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements are sufficient.
# 30:
6:02 am PDT, Aug 4,Todd Chapin, Massachusetts
# 29:
5:32 am PDT, Aug 4,Name not displayed, Massachusetts
# 28:
11:31 pm PDT, Aug 3,Stephen McCracken, New Mexico
I'm looking to move a new state with a good tech job market. If MA bans non-competes, that will make it very attractive to me.
# 27:
5:52 am PDT, Jul 25,Michael Phillips, Massachusetts
# 26:
6:17 pm PDT, Jul 24,Angel Municio, Massachusetts
# 25:
10:35 am PDT, Jul 23,David Russo, New Hampshire
Today's employment practices can change a worker's status from W-2 to 1099 to self-employed and back again in a 3 - 5 year cycle. Having non-compete clauses is a restraint of trade for engineers, developers, and project managers. Any provisions for legal protection on competitive advantage are provided for by laws of Intellectual Property and confidentiality agreements.
regards,
Dave Russo
# 24:
12:34 pm PDT, Jul 22,Edward Seguine, Pennsylvania
Oftentimes the separation is due to differences in opinion about strategy - by limiting the former employee's options to pursue a different strategy (by starting a new company or joining a more "aligned" competitor) innovation is hindered.
# 23:
11:30 am PDT, Jul 22,Chris Connor, Massachusetts
Executives in the life science and healthcare technology industries often hold the existence of signed non-compete agreements over the heads of otherwise ethical employees as leverage during separation negotiations - whether or not the employee intends to actually go to work for a competitor. Even worse, these companies view non-competes as some kind of arbitrary, "zero-cost insurance plan" that protects the company from any competitor - current or future, real or imagined.
# 22:
9:46 am PDT, Jul 22,Kevin Johnson, Massachusetts
# 21:
7:36 pm PDT, Jul 21,Chris Hill, Massachusetts
# 20:
7:08 am PDT, Jul 21,Tim O'Loughlin, Massachusetts
# 19:
6:49 am PDT, Jul 21,Brian Feinstein, New York
# 18:
6:30 am PDT, Jul 21,Jim Smith, Massachusetts
# 17:
4:49 am PDT, Jul 21,George Harper, Massachusetts
# 16:
9:57 pm PDT, Jul 20,Jon Pierce, Massachusetts
# 15:
8:25 pm PDT, Jul 20,Samuel Clemens, Massachusetts
# 14:
7:49 pm PDT, Jul 17,Kai Rostcheck, Massachusetts
Cling to the old economy, or innovate? We can't have both. Clear the way for economic development.
# 13:
6:03 pm PDT, Jul 17,Aaron Gerry, Massachusetts
Simply, this is just common sense in becoming a more transparent and productive economy.
# 12:
5:36 am PDT, Jul 16,Matthias Wagner, Massachusetts
# 11:
12:03 pm PDT, Jul 15,Tim Rowe, Massachusetts
I have written an article for Xconomy that lays out why I believe non-competes represent a classic "tragedy of the commons" problem.
http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/07/15/tragedy-of-the-commons-it%E2%80%99s-really-time-to-ban-non-compete-agreements/
# 10:
7:34 am PDT, Jul 13,Sarah Manthey, Ohio
# 9:
6:23 pm PDT, Jul 12,Larry Cheng, Massachusetts
# 8:
9:00 am PDT, Jul 12,Valeria Soboleva, Russian Federation
# 7:
6:19 am PDT, Jul 12,David N Moore, Connecticut
# 6:
3:59 pm PDT, Jul 11,Khody Azmoon, California
# 5:
5:56 am PDT, Jul 11,Elaine Robinson, United Kingdom
