So this is just a PSA, y'all should never sign a contract until you read it. I’m talking in rl right now. I just got through reading my employee handbook/service contract and my bosses slipped in a lot of bullshit like telling me I can’t complain about my job on social media, demanding I work off the clock in the name of good service, expects me to show up on time during inclimate weather, and considered disability or religious accommodation a direct threat to the company.
These are all things I took issue with and brought to my employer for further discussion before signing the contract. Most of my coworkers signed without reading, treating it like an internet terms of service contract.
Tl;dr real life is serious shit, lawyers write contracts to protect your employer FROM YOU, read contracts before you sign them - fucking ARGUE about contracts before you sign them
Also important to note, and something my bf has repeated to me many times: a contract is a negotiation until it is signed, and YOU ARE ALLOWED TO AMEND IT. Tech companies often put some bs in there about “we own everything you make while you work for us” which broadly applied also means anything done on your own time. He always ALWAYS does write-in amendments with initial and date to state that they only own things done FOR the company, on company time, because there have been companies that enforced that bullshit when somebody had a personal side project the company decided they wanted to steal. There’s only one company that threw a fit at his attempts to amend it and he considered that a huge red flag and refused to sign, turned down the job.
Never. EVER. Sign shit without reading it. Also: if your prospective employer won’t let you take the thing home to read before you sign it and says you need to sign it then and there THAT IS A RED FLAG. The job I had that turned out to be abusive as shit was like that. Every other job I’ve been able to bring the contract home to my parents to have a more experienced set of eyes on it. It’s also common practice in some fields to have one’s attorney look over it before signing. So never let them tell you that you can’t look over it with someone else. That’s a fat load of shit. For “lower level” jobs they may not accept amendments to the contract but if they won’t even give you the proper time to read it over, they’re trying to pull some bullshit on you and you’re going to regret it if you sign. Even if there’s nothing bad in what you signed it’s an example of how they are going to treat you while you’re there. Take it to heart and run like fucking hell.
Please also tell your coworkers. Inform others. Tell everyone. Please, for the lovee of everything TELL PEOPLE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO DO THESE THINGS.
Companies BANK on the fact you’re not going to read it. Then they slip in shit like ‘you can’t talk about your wages’ because they want you to keep quiet, so thy can pay that guy six bucks, and pay the guy over there fifteen and pay you eight. They want you to accept it all blindly. PLEASE DON’T STAY BLIND.
Yes, I’ve lost out on jobs because I wanted to read it and they didn’t want me to. Or they wanted m to resign and I said no to to the things they added that I pointed out were unfair and borderline illegal.
Read shit. Tell everyone else to read shit. BE INFORMED.
Absolutely 100% good advice ☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼
Never ever ever sign shit without reading and re-reading it! Take it home, show it to someone more experienced, if you can, show it to a lawyer. A contract is supposed to work for both sides. A company in Toronto tried to make me sign a contract with clause that in event of me leaving the job I will not work in a similar position anywhere in Ontario. Yeah, right, not enforceable in court, dudes, you can’t prevent me from making a living. Read the shit and don’t let them intimidate you.
The last thing - with stuff being unenforceable by law - is also important! It’s important not to be overawed by the power of the company or other entity.
Also, some liability disclaimers are paper thin once lawyers become involved.
Hell, Target pulls the ‘we own everything you make‘ bull on seasonal workers. It’s very common.
And companies will sue for breach of contract over it.
This also goes for freelance contracts.
I once had a company slide into their NDA, before we had even discussed compensation, that anything I wrote that was “similar” to what I’d be working on for them belonged to them. It was so broadly worded, that anything I wrote with a contemporary setting would belong to these people…including the web serial I was writing and publishing at the time. Full rights.
I told them I could not sign it as stands and attempted to open negotiations.
I never heard from them again. I strongly feel I dodged a bullet.
Never, ever sign a non-compete clause unless it is extremely narrow. “Don’t take our stuff and sell it” is fine.
“We own everything you make” is not fine.
I also had a temp employer try to do a milder version, which was “Anything you write during your commute.” Uh, right. You going to pay me for my commute time then. I refused to sign and did not get the job.
Unless you are literally at the “Can’t pay my rent/food bill” point? It is better not to get the job or gig than to be locked into an aggressive non-compete.
With the legally-required disclaimer that I’m not a lawyer, watch for these in publication contracts and NDAs:
Overly broad non-competes. “Please don’t self publish a book the same month we’re releasing your book” is fine and only good manners. “You aren’t allowed to self publish for the life of this contract” is a red flag.
On the same note, overly broad first refusal clauses. Don’t sign with a publisher who insists that they have to have first refusal on every single book you write for the length of the contract. Often they will sit on your books for months, even if they don’t publish that genre. However, it is always polite to give first refusal on sequels and other books set in the same world.
Life of copyright clauses. For the love of little puppies and kittens: Never. Sign. A. Life. Of. Copyright. Contract. (Work for hire is obviously a different situation. I’m talking for original work here). Contracts should have a specified term in years, after which your rights automatically revert if you don’t renegotiate. Automatically. You shouldn’t have to request them.
Signing over rights the publisher doesn’t intend to exercise. Don’t sign over audio rights unless the publisher has a solid record of producing audio books (if they do have a solid record of it then do give them audio rights and make them pay the production costs). Don’t sign over movie rights to a book publisher! Yes, I have seen this. The publisher was Curiosity Quill. They have since imploded. If a publisher is e-only ask about splitting off the print rights.
For work for hire contracts, then you are signing over all the rights in the contract. (Editing contracts are always work for hire). An NDA is standard and don’t be afraid to sign one even if they’re scary, just make sure they don’t hide anything nasty in it. A standard NDA should boil down to “Please don’t share the files with anyone and please don’t talk about the project publicly without our permission.” I personally treat every project as under an NDA even if I haven’t signed one…you’ll see me talk occasionally about “This project I can’t talk about is taking up my time.” That means I’m either under an NDA or I should be if the publisher had any sense.
The “opposite” of an NDA is a required publicity clause. Be careful of these: Make sure you aren’t responsible for the results. Usually they aren’t too onerous, though. It’s more like “Would you please share the kickstarter with all of your Facebook friends.” I also had one which required me to post the release of the anthology to my blog. Usually they’re no big deal, but watch out for pressure being put on you to do a ton of marketing on a small thing like a short story. It can take you away from marketing stuff which really needs it.
Tl;dr:
Don’t sign broad non-competes. Ever. Under any circumstances.
Don’t sign away the rights to something a company can’t use/exercise.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate.
Don’t be afraid to walk away (unless, again, you would end up on the street/without health insurance/etc).
Make sure you double check the numbers. My pay is standardized by the federal government, and every year I get a cost of living adjustment, in addition to a small raise. In my latest contract, the university used old numbers, stiffing me what would have been about 2K over the year. Don’t sign contracts you haven’t read.
