Two people I know just got fired from their jobs because they were working on a project on their free time. One of them got a 10000$ fine aswell.

Apparently there was a small hidden clause in their contract that stated that any side projects, even on your free time, was strictly forbidden. Because it could be seen as competition.
Now that was, imo, a bit fucked up.

What's that company? They must have really low self esteem if they think a sole developer's hobby work can be a competition to them.

It is fucked up! A good reason to get a contract by a law student or a paid lawyer.

My friend used to work for a company which had in their contract something similar but said instead:

“Anything created by the develeoper， EVEN during his free time is owned by the company”.

@Jilano I don't want to say to much about who/where and whom. Right now, theyre in The law process.

My contract in the uk says something similar - not allowed to pursue other financial pursuits. I did sign it but fuck them, I'm doing it anyway and in an area no one can argue competes with them as they are not even close to the same industry.

I refuse to believe that they could enforce ownership as that would mean they own me and anything I ever do outside of work, which is bs. I am not a slave.

But he must have read his contract through before signing right? I mean you should fully understand what you are agreeing to. It's in the best interest of both parties to fully understand what they are expected to provide, and what they are receiving in return.

@Jilano I can say so much as it is in Europe. Aparantly the one who got the fine was the one who came up with the idea of the software, that's why he got fined. Still tho, its bs.

@KiDoDa Yeah, they did, but they've been with the company for like 6 years now. The one I talked to said that when he joined he was just out of school and just signed, and now he regretted that direly.
A direct quote : "Yeah, I read it back then and didn't think that much about it. I didn't remember it until they brought it up. And I was like, holy shit, are you serious?"

@Jilano Yeah, gonna be interresting to follow and see What happens.

Always read your contract.

If there's anything you don't like, request it removed. If they're offering you a contract, that means they've already decided to hire you, so it's difficult to make them reconsider (and they've also already said no to all of the other candidates!) so you have quite a bit of leverage. If they refuse to amend it, refuse their offer. They might see you're serious and agree, or you'll save yourself from working for a potentially toxic company. Either way it's a win.

Never accept a contract you don't like.

Except most companies over a certain size won't change the contract, they'll just say "take it or leave it", but, when the balance of power is uneven, contract law can fall in favour of the weaker party.
I once had a job where I pretty much had to quit the old job before I could see the contract

From my own view if they file this to court your friends might as well lose the case, if you are opportune to read the contract I'm pretty sure it's stated "during office hours" that means if they were carrying this project during the office hour then they have bridge the contract because the company pays for the time you are to work for them anything outside that would be a bridge of agreed contract terms. But good luck to them.

@RantSomeWhere not my coworkers, they work at a diffrent company. But thanks anyway!

@craig939393 best way is to star the line with the unfair term on and write "agreed under protest" then wait as their HR manager tries to remember the correct process for that

That is some real fucked up shit :/

@FrodoSwaggins i believe it was more about the coding. Any code produced while working at the company， would be owned by the company (while working in the sense the whole length of time therefore anycode created both on free time and at work).

Like you said. They cant take the house of you that would be insane.

@FrodoSwaggins it was in france.

My side project is taking shit.. sadly I flush em down

Sue the off out of that company. What a rip off

Sadly I don’t think this kind of thing is uncommon. I agree that you could likely fight it in court and win (assuming your side project differs enough from the companies line of business) but at non-trivial cost.

Something that might help in the future is to mention any side projects when you’re hired and that you intend to continue working on them as side projects. I even went as far as forming my own company to do the work within. It’s actually made the conversations easier b/c they know you’re serious about it (so long as you’re acting in good faith).