Re: No-compete agreements

[Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET>]

> Let's say the  company can bill $100/hour and
> pay you $50/hour. <snip> They certainly wouldn't want
> you to go to a client and offer to do the work for
> $75/hour. The client wins, you win, but the agency loses
> $25/hour of potential income. So they do everything in
> their power to stop you from going around them. In my
> books, that's restraint of trade and a flagrant violation
> of various anti-trust laws, but I'm no lawyer. (Thank God.)
Except - It's a short-term "win-win." The writer soon discovers that
the agency charges overhead to handle taxes, marketing, payroll, and
other goodies. The writer then is stuck without enough money to cover
costs. He or she then either raises rates, goes to full-time, or finds
another agency, if any will have him or her.

If it's a long-term contract, the company will either have to up the
rates, or possibly lose the writer altogether. In the worst case for
the company, the writer doesn't incorporate and doesn't withhold
taxes, and the IRS comes after the company for withholding.

Besides potential income, the agency loses any marketing, sales, and
interviewing time it spent with the writer.

I'm not fond of agencies, and I haven't worked for them, but I can see
their point.

Regards,

Barb
Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
Technical Writing

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