Re: Seems he signed the agreement
The story here is that people don't *like* noncompetes, so it's a cheap way to get people agitated. And they shouldn't like them; they're obviously a huge problem for the employee. But you're correct; the story here, such as it is, is that the time to address the terms of a deal is when you are negotiating them, not once you have chosen to breach them. The argument that Amazon doesn't have any problem hiring people in California, against whom they cannot enforce these clauses anyway, is a strong one to raise at the bargaining table. If they still insist, you simply don't sign, or you move to California or another state in which these clauses are unenforceable. Unfortunately, while that argument should carry the day at the bargaining table, it's unlikely to impress a judge after the fact. That will make people angry, which sells newspapers.
