Do white coats make you stupid?

When I go into my doctor’s office with an ailment, for some reason I lose almost all my reporter’s sense. I sit there like a lump on a log, listening to everything she says and rarely asking good probing questions. Typically when I return home I regret not having asked more about a medicine she prescribed or a plan for treatment.

I call this “I-put-my-life-in-your-hands” syndrome, and this very thing often happens to workers when they’re in a boss’ office, offered a job by a hiring manager, or sitting down with a human resource employee.

You guys go into stun mode and sometimes just go along with things these people say. Why? You want to keep your job, land a job, or get the severance you were promised. So you do things like sign forms put in front of you without really reading or thinking about the ramifications.

Stop! Take the mass of papers you’re given and read them. Please.

My column this week is on noncompete agreements. Workers are often asked to sign these and most employees blindly provide their John Hancock because they’re so happy to have been offered a gig. But folks, if you get laid off a non-compete agreement can tie your hands when it comes to working for a competitor in town or starting a similar business. The laws vary depending on where you live. Florida for example is tough on employees who sign these agreements, but California doesn’t enforce them. But, if you are in a state where these accords are upheld you’re going to be in a lot of trouble if you leave your job.

Here are some things to think about before you sign a noncompete:

It’s a good idea to contact your local labor department to find out if noncompete clauses are applicable in your state. If they are, Daniel Levine, an employment attorney with Shapiro, Blasi, Wasserman & Gora in Boca Raton, Fla., advises employees to spend some time reading the document and maybe even have a lawyer take a look so you fully understand what you’re agreeing to.

If you decide not to sign a noncompete agreement, an employer can decide not to hire you. That is within their legal rights, he says.

If you’re laid off, he adds, you could try and negotiate a severance package so that you’re not in financial dire straits during the period you’re not allowed to compete.

You also have to take into consideration the scope of the agreement is. In many cases if a noncompete clause is too broad it won’t hold up in court, legal experts say.

And nothing precludes you from altering the noncompete agreement before you sign it. An employer may not accept it, but what do you have to lose?

Another form that workers are often asked to sign, and I’ve been getting emails about this more lately, is a “I-won’t-sue-you” document.

Here’s a letter I just got from Diane who lives in California:

I am being laid off at the end of this year. I was notified in June that I had 60 days (in compliance with the WARN Act) to work and that if I continued my employment for the next 60 days in good standing my company would reward me with an extra 30 days pay. I was later notified that my termination date had been extended until December 31, 2008, but the same conditions would apply. The extra 30 days pay is in addition to what I will have earned by working and my earned, but unused Paid Time Off (PTO). The extra 30 days pay comes with a string attached: the string is, that I must sign a ‘waiver’ that states I give up my right to sue my company and if I do not sign, they do not release the 30 days pay to me.

I am very suspicious of ‘waiving’ or giving up any of my rights. This feels like a couple of things: first, a bribe and second, that the company may be doing something illegal for which they could be sued if the waiver is not signed. However, without a job and the current economic climate, I do need the extra pay, so I do not feel that not signing is an option.

Is this legal in the state of California? Can I sign, noting ‘signed under duress’, and if so, are they then obligated to release my extra 30 days pay to me, since they do actually have my signature?

Again, do not rush to sign anything. I’m not big on giving up my rights to anything. But just asking workers to sign such a waiver doesn’t mean they are hiding skeletons in their business closet.

First off, the WARN Act has nothing to do with whether you sign a lawsuit waiver. The Act only applies to employers giving workers 60 day notice before they implement mass layoffs. You don’t have to sign a waiver in order to get the notice.

Before you sign anything it’s a good idea to get some legal help, says Barbara Poole, CEO of Employaid, an online resource for employees and HR executives.

She suggests you “contact an employee rights attorney who offers free consultation. Another resource are online legal services such as Law Guru to research and/or ask her question. Still another resource are the wonderful folks at Nolo, the peoples’ law resource for many years. As a California company, their concentration is heavily in CA employee rights.”

Having another person in the room as a witness such as another employee or an HR representative, she adds, when holding pay or layoff provision talks may also be an option.

But bottomline, many of these lawsuit-waiver forms are standards, she notes.

She is being asked to sign a General Release and Waiver Agreement which is standard practice when awarding any kind of extension of pay benefits (severance) subsequent to a layoff. It is a legal document put together by the company’s internal or external legal team. In essence it says, ‘in exchange for this additional payment…..we want you to waive and release any known or unknown causes of action, claims or liabilities of any kind……arising out of or related to your employment’. So, it’s purpose is to give her something (in this case, 30 days pay) in exchange for her promise not to file a law suit related to…discrimination, wrongful termination charges, mental anguish charges, violation of personnel policies/handbooks by the company (you name it).

If she doesn’t feel she has anything to take them to court on, then no point in not signing it. If she does feel she has any kind of a case, then she shouldn’t sign it. The important point here is company isn’t making her do anything–they are just extending additional pay for a waiver and it is legal as it is her choice. Signing ‘under duress won’t be acceptable and defeats whole purpose of company presenting the doc. Under law, she has a certain amount of time to sign and can have her attorney look at the doc which would help eliminate her suspicions.

So, it’s all about being cautious and thinking before you sign any employment form. You don’t want it coming back to haunt you, especially in this economy.

And by the way, I’m getting better at asking my doctor questions. Now I bring a list with me.