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.
Read your leases too.
Tbh I think it’s almost more important to know what your rights are. Obviously it depends on the legal situation in your state and country, but it doesn’t make sense to try and amend a clause that you KNOW they can’t actually enforce. If you already know the terms are not legal then it might be BETTER for you not to amend them to something that could be legal and put you at a disadvantage. For example: if you can’t legally be forced to do unlimited amount of unpaid overtime, what’s the sense in amending it to an overtime clause that still subjects you to unwanted overtime. It’s better to sign it as is and give them the finger when they try to enforce it. And yes in an ideal world you walk away from stuff like that in the first place but we don’t live in an ideal world and sometimes you have to take the job. Also, a lot of companys have shitty legal departments or no legal departments at all and even well meaning and decent employers sometimes put stuff in their contracts that is absolute nonsense.
For example, the legal guidelines for lease agreements in Germany are so very narrow that you could sign almost anything and it would still default to the legal norm. If you know that unenforcable clauses are automatically invalid or default to certain parameters, you can sign the thing while still making any potential landlord or employer think you’re gullible and therefore a desirable tenant or employee. In a tough market, confrontation might cost you an otherwise decent opportunity.
due to this event, it’s more important than ever to support water protectors and pipeline activsts. here is the official website for the unis’tot’en camp so you can educate yourself on the issue. also please donate if you can.
it’s more important than ever to help support indigenous water protectors and anti-pipeline activists. please do what you can - anything helps.
so i dont like to use this to project my voice at all but i live in brazil and we just elected an actual fascist to the presidency. if you are outside the country, please educate yourself on what is happening here…im sorry im just too distressed to collect links but brasilwire has some good reading on it. and to my fellow brazilians: tamo junto. a luta continua, sempre.
i know it seems silly to many of you who just come here for aesthetics but i need people to please be aware that brazil is full of real people, terrified of the return of the brutal anticommunist dictatorship that the fascist bolsonaro has promised. please…dont take this lightly.
brazilians, if you are crowdfunding to leave the country please message me and i will boost your campaigns on my various sideblogs.
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