The New American Slaves

Once upon a time, we used to work for a company until we retired. If we wanted to leave, the company would recognize our contributions and offer a raise, or other incentives to keep good employees.
Then the tech revolution happened, and now average life span at a job is 2 years.
This means that you might move to another job for more money, get RIFed, or fired so that someone cheaper can be hired...
However, the new tactic is to LOCK you into a job... WIth non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, they can pay you scraps, keep you unhappy, and keep you employed
If you try to leave, you had better hope that the new company is not in any way related to your previous job... i.e. if you work for Microsoft, you shouldn't (and maybe can't) work for any company with a computer...

Legal argument could hamper high-tech job-changers

Published: August 26, 2005, 12:29 PM PDT
By Ed Frauenheim
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Buried in Microsoft's lawsuit against its former executive Kai-Fu Lee and Google is a legal doctrine that could make tech professionals shiver.

The high-profile dispute largely hinges on a noncompete agreement Lee signed with Microsoft. But in court filings, the software giant has also mentioned the theory of "inevitable disclosure," which holds that in some circumstances people can't avoid sharing or relying on trade secrets from their former employer when moving to a competitor.

Thanks to this increasingly popular legal argument, techies and other employees could be in for a surprise when they try to switch companies. In states that accept the inevitable disclosure concept, employers can sue defectors even if they've signed only a confidentiality agreement--or even if they haven't signed an employment agreement at all, said Robin Meadow, an attorney with the firm Greines Martin Stein & Richland.

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