May
What Price, NDA?
Posted in Schmegal | 3 Comments »It has come to my attention that Your Unemployed Daughter has never fully explained the situation that has made her unemployed, or given any details/proof as to that fact. Part of this is because, dear reader(s), the two (dare I say, three?) of you looking at this know exactly what happened. The other more scandalous part is that for the past 10 days of my unemployment I have been pondering whether or not to sign my severance agreement, which promises a rather paltry sum (1 week’s pay) upon my agreeing to a detailed and extensive non-disclosure agreement.
One week’s pay. Before taxes, that’s something like the cost of these shoes. Which could be mine, all mine (or maybe I’d just pay my rent) if I sign away my right to write anything whatsoever – scribblings in a notebook, a letter to an old professor, a post-it on a car window, a BLOG – disclosing anything whatsoever, truthful or not, negative or positive, well-written or poorly crafted (please, give the copy editor some credit) about my former employer, my experience with my former employer, or anything I may have learned or experienced in any relation to my former employer. (In fact, in a delightful little piece by Jeff Bercovici, the legality of such an extensive NDA is questioned in itself.)
Your Unemployed Daughter has come to the conclusion that this is a cost too great, or a fee to small, at any rate. And those shoes aren’t really practical for the beach or the coffeeshop. So it is in this post that I break free from the shackles of NDAs everywhere and say, “Suck it, Corporate Entity.” I cannot be bought for less than a month’s severance.
