Adding pages to a signed contract after signing

[giorgio23]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello everyone!

I'm not sure I'm posting in the right forum but here it goes...

I'm going to try to make a long story short......I am a full time employee in the state of Florida. For the last few years I've been asked by my employer to sign a comprehensive NDA and Non-Compete agreement. I had signed a less restrictive version in 2010 or so. Since then our company has sold twice. Two weeks ago my employer asked me again to sign the same NDA and non compete in order to finish the paperwork for the closing of the company. I was asked at 11am to have this agreement signed by 5pm. At the time of reviewing it I wasn't 100% if it was the same as the previous ones. I read through it and there were some pretty restrictive statements that would probably not be held reasonable in a court of law. Part of the agreement also stated that I confirmed that this agreement was in fact reasonable. There were about 5 parts where I thought needed to be adjusted in order for me to sign it since it's also in my best in interest to protect our company IP. I was told and reminded by our CEO that I needed to sign THAT agreement. I didn't stating the same reasons. I'm a key individual there with what was some significant stock. The HR director pressured me some more until she finally said that we would just have to close on the sale of the company without the agreement signed. There were also other employees whom had not signed them.

This passed Thursday I was asked to sign some stock agreement paperwork so that we could sell the company. Initially the HR director only gave me the signature pages (about 5). I asked to see the rest and she reluctantly showed them to me. I read through them, all were related to the stock and EBIDTA targets etc. I signed those papers.

4 days later I received the executed agreement in an email, I read the first couple pages and quickly scanned for my signatures. It all looked in order.
That same day two of the people that didn't sign the agreement were fired for not having signed those agreements, one other person (another key person, but without any stock) was asked once again to sign them. They asked for more time which was granted.
The next morning I was called into my bosses office and was told that two people were fired (I already knew because they called me) for not signing the NDA/non-compete. He also told me at that point that I had signed the NDA. I reminded him that I didn't. He insisted I did and said that it was in the stock agreement.

I spent the next day wondering how I missed it. I decided to speak to one of the other people that had stock agreement and that I knew hadn't signed the NDA. The had the same experience where additional pages were added to what he signed.

At that point I let my boss know that the paperwork I signed didn't have the NDA. I didn't get much of a response.

The HR director wanted to see me to discuss this. I decided to listen to her. She told me that I should simply keep this in my back pocket and told me that I should use this when I needed to. She also said that the company wasn't going to pursue me signing the NDA. I asked her to void and nullify the contract I just signed, but she said it was a bad idea and to not too make too much noise about it. I asked her in these exact words "are you advising me to keep quite about the fact that you {Insert Company Name here} added additional pages to the contract I signed after the fact?". She said "well what I'm about to say won't hold up in court, but**************I'm neither agreeing or disagreeing with you. At this point you don't want to take this up the flag pole because it'll create trouble for others". I stated the question differently this time. "Are you advising me to keep quite about the fact that you added pages to the contract after the fact and that I should keep this in my back pocket in the event I take the company to court or the company decides to take me to court and I should tell the judge then that the contract should be voided?". She was stunned, I got up and thanked her for her time and walked away. I also reminded her that it would be a bad idea of having people without an NDA walk and have all those company secrets with them with no NDA.

What if any employment/contract laws were broken here?


Thanks!!

 

[adjusterjack]

The lesson here is that you NEVER sign anything without thoroughly reading and understanding what you are signing, numbering and initialing every page, and KEEPING A COPY.

If you had KEPT A COPY with all the pages initialed you wouldn't be having this problem.

Right now you have no proof that pages were added, only your sayso, which is meaningless.

Nor will you ever be able to prove that you and the HR lady had that conversation when she denies having it.

 

[giorgio23]

The lesson here is that you NEVER sign anything without thoroughly reading and understanding what you are signing, numbering and initialing every page, and KEEPING A COPY.

If you had KEPT A COPY with all the pages initialed you wouldn't be having this problem.

Right now you have no proof that pages were added, only your sayso, which is meaningless.

Nor will you ever be able to prove that you and the HR lady had that conversation when she denies having it.

Wow, that was a bit harsh. I agree, with most of your points though although there are 5 of us now that have individually realized what has happened. You're right that I can't prove that conversation and the reason I didn't sign each page and initial is because I was under duress to sign this. I had the CEO emailing me, and the HR director constantly on me about it.

Just curios. What's your background in law?

 

[Zigner]

Wow, that was a bit harsh.

What was harsh about it?

 

[adjusterjack]

What's your background in law?

1 - A college degree in business and insurance.
2 - 35 years in the insurance industry analyzing insurance CONTRACTS.
3 - 40 years in the working world dealing with employer BS every day.
4 - A one time victim of a non-compete agreement that convinced me never to sign them again even if it got me fired or denied the job.
5 - 16 years on legal websites answering questions just like yours thousands of times. And the answer is the same all the time. If you let any employer coerce you into doing something against your interest, you lose. Self preservation is nobody's business but your own.

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello everyone!

I'm not sure I'm posting in the right forum but here it goes...

I'm going to try to make a long story short......I am a full time employee in the state of Florida. For the last few years I've been asked by my employer to sign a comprehensive NDA and Non-Compete agreement. I had signed a less restrictive version in 2010 or so. Since then our company has sold twice. Two weeks ago my employer asked me again to sign the same NDA and non compete in order to finish the paperwork for the closing of the company. I was asked at 11am to have this agreement signed by 5pm. At the time of reviewing it I wasn't 100% if it was the same as the previous ones. I read through it and there were some pretty restrictive statements that would probably not be held reasonable in a court of law. Part of the agreement also stated that I confirmed that this agreement was in fact reasonable. There were about 5 parts where I thought needed to be adjusted in order for me to sign it since it's also in my best in interest to protect our company IP. I was told and reminded by our CEO that I needed to sign THAT agreement. I didn't stating the same reasons. I'm a key individual there with what was some significant stock. The HR director pressured me some more until she finally said that we would just have to close on the sale of the company without the agreement signed. There were also other employees whom had not signed them.

This passed Thursday I was asked to sign some stock agreement paperwork so that we could sell the company. Initially the HR director only gave me the signature pages (about 5). I asked to see the rest and she reluctantly showed them to me. I read through them, all were related to the stock and EBIDTA targets etc. I signed those papers.

4 days later I received the executed agreement in an email, I read the first couple pages and quickly scanned for my signatures. It all looked in order.
That same day two of the people that didn't sign the agreement were fired for not having signed those agreements, one other person (another key person, but without any stock) was asked once again to sign them. They asked for more time which was granted.
The next morning I was called into my bosses office and was told that two people were fired (I already knew because they called me) for not signing the NDA/non-compete. He also told me at that point that I had signed the NDA. I reminded him that I didn't. He insisted I did and said that it was in the stock agreement.

I spent the next day wondering how I missed it. I decided to speak to one of the other people that had stock agreement and that I knew hadn't signed the NDA. The had the same experience where additional pages were added to what he signed.

At that point I let my boss know that the paperwork I signed didn't have the NDA. I didn't get much of a response.

The HR director wanted to see me to discuss this. I decided to listen to her. She told me that I should simply keep this in my back pocket and told me that I should use this when I needed to. She also said that the company wasn't going to pursue me signing the NDA. I asked her to void and nullify the contract I just signed, but she said it was a bad idea and to not too make too much noise about it. I asked her in these exact words "are you advising me to keep quite about the fact that you {Insert Company Name here} added additional pages to the contract I signed after the fact?". She said "well what I'm about to say won't hold up in court, but**************I'm neither agreeing or disagreeing with you. At this point you don't want to take this up the flag pole because it'll create trouble for others". I stated the question differently this time. "Are you advising me to keep quite about the fact that you added pages to the contract after the fact and that I should keep this in my back pocket in the event I take the company to court or the company decides to take me to court and I should tell the judge then that the contract should be voided?". She was stunned, I got up and thanked her for her time and walked away. I also reminded her that it would be a bad idea of having people without an NDA walk and have all those company secrets with them with no NDA.

What if any employment/contract laws were broken here? Thanks!!

That is most interesting, yet I see no legal significance to what you have reported. The simple reason being that you mention no attempt by the employer to hold you to the terms of an agreement that you deny having signed. (How could there be a breach or breaking of a contract if none exists?)

If you are wondering whether or not a court of law could hold you to the terms of an agreement you refused to sign, the answer is rather obvious.

If you are inquiring whether or not the company can discharge you with impunity for refusing to sign and ratify the proposed restrictive covenants, one would need to know the terms of your employment contract.

If you are thinking of taking a walk, you should review the terms of the non disclosure and covenant not to compete of 2010.

__________________

[SUB]Incidentally, did you notice the absence of any reference to professional legal credentials in a recent listing of someone's personal achievements? I'm reminded of a bit of advice from "Miss Manners":

"It is far more impressive for people to learn of your good qualities without your help."[/SUB]

 

[latigo]

1 - A college degree in business and insurance.
2 - 35 years in the insurance industry analyzing insurance CONTRACTS.
3 - 40 years in the working world dealing with employer BS every day.
4 - A one time victim of a non-compete agreement that convinced me never to sign them again even if it got me fired or denied the job.
5 - 16 years on legal websites answering questions just like yours thousands of times. And the answer is the same all the time. If you let any employer coerce you into doing something against your interest, you lose. Self preservation is nobody's business but your own.

Well I'll be hornswoggled!

Here I spent all those hours burning the midnight oil reading and briefing cases on contract law from A to Z and living on peanut butter and soda crackers in order to pass a difficult course in law school and now I learn that all that was needed is to have analyzed a few insurance contracts. I might have squeezed another job in there and improved my diet with an occasional hot dog.

Do you suppose I'm due for a refund of some of the tuition?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Do you suppose I'm due for a refund of some of the tuition?

You probably should.

 

[quincy]

Well I'll be hornswoggled!

Here I spent all those hours burning the midnight oil reading and briefing cases on contract law from A to Z and living on peanut butter and soda crackers in order to pass a difficult course in law school and now I learn that all that was needed is to have analyzed a few insurance contracts. I might have squeezed another job in there and improved my diet with an occasional hot dog.

Do you suppose I'm due for a refund of some of the tuition?

Not Ramen Noodles?

 

[Zigner]

Well I'll be hornswoggled!

Here I spent all those hours burning the midnight oil reading and briefing cases on contract law from A to Z and living on peanut butter and soda crackers in order to pass a difficult course in law school and now I learn that all that was needed is to have analyzed a few insurance contracts. I might have squeezed another job in there and improved my diet with an occasional hot dog.

Do you suppose I'm due for a refund of some of the tuition?

I enjoyed this post...but I have to point out that adjusterjack was asked a specific question about his credentials and gave a detailed answer. Nothing wrong with that

 

[giorgio23]

That is most interesting, yet I see no legal significance to what you have reported. The simple reason being that you mention no attempt by the employer to hold you to the terms of an agreement that you deny having signed. (How could there be a breach or breaking of a contract if none exists?)

If you are wondering whether or not a court of law could hold you to the terms of an agreement you refused to sign, the answer is rather obvious.

If you are inquiring whether or not the company can discharge you with impunity for refusing to sign and ratify the proposed restrictive covenants, one would need to know the terms of your employment contract.

If you are thinking of taking a walk, you should review the terms of the non disclosure and covenant not to compete of 2010.

__________________

[SUB]Incidentally, did you notice the absence of any reference to professional legal credentials in a recent listing of someone's personal achievements? I'm reminded of a bit of advice from "Miss Manners":

"It is far more impressive for people to learn of your good qualities without your help."[/SUB]

"yet I see no legal significance to what you have reported"
Seems like a catch 22 to me. If I ask our HR director to kindly send me back the paperwork I actually signed, they'll just turn around and ask me to sign the NDA and it was "an accident" (that happened to 5 others as well). And they've already proven that if we don't sign it they will fire you. The fired the married couple. They also told one of the others that if they don't sign they will get fired. They specifically stated that "this was your choice" in the letter they received, absolving them of all fault.

I don't understand how any of this is legal. They fake some paperwork, they fire people, they threaten to fire others. What the hell country do we live in?