No-compete agreements

[Daniel Wise <dewise -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Colleagues,

I have heard of (and signed) no-compete agreements ever since I started my
first job 40 years ago, but they were always, without exception, aimed at
protecting intellectual properties, patentable discoveries, proprietary
information, etc.  I am having a hard time stretching such an agreement to
include the creation of documentation, especially documentation for such
dynamic products as software.  Perhaps I am wrong, as is often the case, but
I equate user procedures for software/hardware to the IO&M manuals we
produced for military equipment.  We hardly created the equipment; we just
explained how to use and care for it.  So, today, do I perceive user manuals
for software/hardware.  We normally don't create the software; we just
explain how to use it.  Hardly rocket science in either case.

As a second issue, how can an agency insist on a no-compete agreement if
they have no work for you?  Do they usually put you "on the bench" and pay
you some sort of salary in those gaps between jobs?  If they don't, and
don't have work, how can they prohibit you from working for another agency?

Dan Wise
dewise -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com

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