Non-compete clauses now for the rank and file as well

New York

IF you are a chief executive of a large company, you very likely have a non-compete clause in your contract, preventing you from jumping ship to a competitor until some period has elapsed. Likewise if you are a top engineer or product designer, holding your company's most valuable intellectual property between your ears.

You also probably have a non-compete agreement if you prepare sandwiches at Jimmy John's sub sandwich chain. But what's most startling about that information, first reported by The Huffington Post, is that it isn't all that uncommon - US employers are now insisting that workers in a wide variety of low- and moderate-paid jobs sign non-compete agreements.