Legal Question in Employment Law in Alabama

Re: Non Compete Contract

In general Ala law allows an employer to fire someone for any reason. Unless you fall into an exception to this rule, it is possible that you could be fired for not signing. Many of these types of contracts have been upheld by the courts in Ala. Whether or not this particular contract would be valid cannot be answered with the information that I have at this time. Please consult with an attorney in your area.

Re: Non Compete Contract

Well, unless you are a contract employee or union, you can be fired for any reason whatsoever.

As for the non-compete agreement, they are usually signed upon employment and the employment is conditional upon you signing. In your case, this agreement would really not be binding. A contract must have consideration for it to be legally binding. If you get nothing in return for signing this agreement, there is no consideration and it should be void. However, I'm sure the company's attorney's would argue that your continued employment is the consideration. If they have not explicitly stated that you will be terminated if you don't sign, then there has been no "meeting of minds" as to what the consideration is and I don't think any court would enforce it. These agreements are notoriously hard to enforce under the best of circumstances, anyway.

You have two options: either you can just sign it and know that it probably won't be enforceable if you later breach it or you can try to get some kind of concession in consideration for signing it-could be a risky proposition, though.