Job Discussion Forums

Zorak03 · Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 3:25 pm Post subject: Unreasonable contract request

A few days ago I signed a contract with a private training center. The contract itself was fine, but they asked me to sign a separate agreement. The agreement stated something like this" "Due to the competitive nature of this business, the employee agrees to not work at another language school within the same Province for a period of two-years."
I considered this an extremely unreasonable demand and, of course, refused to sign it. The agreement was then taken away and I only signed the employment contact. Is this a common part of an employment contract? Who would agree to this? Every business is competitive but asking me to not work for two years is outlandish.

rottenflesh · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 32

Yeah, a training center doesn't have any classified sensitive information that you could use it at other institutions. I'd be slightly wary of the school because you would need a release letter from them if you want to work in another school in China, but oh well. Good thing you asked them to remove it, it's completely unreasonable.

ooragnakkangaroo · Joined: 28 Jan 2011 Posts: 33

You ARE joking, right? The only unreasonable aspect of this is that they tried to get you to sign a condition that was not in the contract. You should tell them it belongs in the actual contract of employment.

Besides, what is wrong with this after-the-fact issue?

Rottenflesh is horribly wrong in calling it "completely unreasonable." "Classified sensitive information" ?? Really? Get a grip in your categorization here. It is a competitive field, many chains/centers have proprietary training materials, "classified" tuition rates, and so on - they have EVERY right to protect their efforts by limiting dissemination of their "stuffs."

This is a fairly common term of employment in a competitive business field in many countries, including China. Get over it...

Zorak - they are not asking you to not work for 2 years. The term, as you wrote it states you cannot work at another "training center" for a period of 2 years on the same province ....... don't exaggerate the statement or infer more.

The Ever-changing Cleric · Joined: 19 Feb 2009 Posts: 1523

while its fair and common to ask an employee to not use proprietary training materials of a former employer while in the employ of someone else, it isnt fair to ask that same employee to abstain from working in any other training centre in the province for two years.

this employee may have a family in place and not being able to work in another training centre in the same province will seriously impact their ability to find work. the esl field isn't only competitive for training centres you know. i'd never sign such a contract.

ooragnakkangaroo · Joined: 28 Jan 2011 Posts: 33

seamallowance · Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:45 am Post subject:

Certainly we have "Classified sensitive information"!
I can see them wanting to protect their intellectual property.
Nobody does "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" quite the same way.
And what if someone else tried to use "Five Little Monkeys"?

vikeologist · Joined: 07 Sep 2009 Posts: 600

To reinforce what somebody else said, they didn't need you to sign the agreement. If you get a job with another training centre at the end of your contract they can refuse to give you a release letter. You could get a job with a different type of school / Uni whatever, and thus only be blocked for a year, but your refusal to sign the agreement is irrelevant.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

In most English Common Law based jurisdictions clauses like these are referred to as �restraint of trade� clauses.
I don�t think they are illegal but probably unenforceable on the grounds of unreasonableness.
What is unreasonable would depend on the facts.
If your employer was a chain of language schools with branches throughout the province and with highly developed lesson materials it may be reasonable.
If the employer is a Mom and Pop setup then a restriction of more than a couple of blocks would be unreasonable.
All of this assumes basic ideas of justice and your guess is as good as mine how a Chinese court would react. AGAINST the FT would be my guess.
Given that a lot of the allure of ESL is the travel aspect I personally wouldn�t want to be restricted to more than a local neighbourhood at the most.
Of course OP may be a TERRIFIC teacher whose departure would lead to a major migration of the all-important student $$ - even to other cities in the province.

mat chen · Joined: 01 Nov 2009 Posts: 494 Location: xiangtan hunan

Ya ur kind of like a bartender. You have many clients and when you move to a new bar they follow you. But seriously what company has materials worth stealing? It is more likely the other way around. You come with materials and books and they get stolen. In psychology it is called projection. They project what they would do if they were in your situation.

choudoufu · Joined: 25 May 2010 Posts: 3325 Location: Mao-berry, PRC

would it be reasonable then to offer to sign a
non-disclosure agreement?

xzbakbook · Joined: 08 Dec 2008 Posts: 19

ehhhh I would have walked away from the job ...really? a no compete clause in a contract after you have arrived? even for a wall street firm z(like JP Morgan) they don't have those unless you are a vice president or above.

igorG · Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 1473 Location: asia

vikeologist · Joined: 07 Sep 2009 Posts: 600

nickpellatt · Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 1522

'Within the city', would be fair IMO, within the province probably isnt. Such clauses are quite common in the UK, and I have worked under them a few times in the past.

If I was offered a job that was great in other aspects, I wouldnt let this put me off TBH. If I was an employer I would 'try' to include something similar in my contracts, depending upon location etc. I have worked in a small town with lots of language schools, and people often move between them, moan about the previous one, and try to encourage staff and students to move with them to the new employer.

I dont know how likely such things are to be enforced. In my experience in the UK (which is really no comparison at all) I had many contracts like this, but no-one ever stuck to the letter of the law per se and pursued legal action. China may be the same, may not.

askiptochina · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 488 Location: Beijing

I don't really see the problem. Are you working full-time or are you just doing a few hours with the school?

Personally, I wouldn't want to work at a competing school. Setting a province as the area to determine competitiveness is a bit extreme if the province is big. The provinces I have seen seem big and not all of the area in a province would be considered competition.

For example, in high school I tried to sell ads for a magazine/newsletter type of thing a friend of mine was starting up with a video store owner. I went to a cleaners place, and the guy there said he didn't care about the areas we were going to deliver the ads to because people would just go to a cleaners closer to their home instead of going to his place of business.

Same thing here. Even if you worked at a school an hour away in the same province, it doesn't mean they would have driven to the school you first worked at. This type of thing needs to be brought up to the school you are working at. Be willing to abide by the location arrangement up to a point, but tell them outside of that you should be allowed to work if you want. If they still don't accept, collect your last pay and leave.