Subcontractor Contract Disagreement

Issues with subcontractor contract

[HireAWebGeek]

I'm looking to bring on a local guy as a sub-contractor, although he's got an issue with the contract that I find to be a generally accepted practice.

The statement in the contract is this:

"Subcontractor agrees to not perform business for or solicit business from Client for a period of 2 (two) years the date this Agreement is signed without written permission from Company."

He says that he doesn't want to prevent himself from earning a living in case he ever stops working for me, which I can understand from his point of view. Although, I'm not sure he understands that while he works for me, he has "insider info" that can make his position with us advantageous to backstab us as well.

I mean, he said during our meeting that what if he wanted to work on a database for a company that he worked with for us. I told him..."What's the next logical step for a database, a web interface." Granted, database development is one of our services too, so with the agreement we wouldn't want him doing that either.

I worked for a firm before where I had to sign a similar contract with the same statement in it, so I'm assuming it's a common practice...right?

What's everyone's thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Scott

[chicagohh]

Try to work out an arrangment that he can agree with. It seems like he is serious about keeping the contract - even though you would have almost no chance of forcing him in court (this has been covered by many posts).
If you look around you could find someone that would sign the contract without hesitation because they have no intention of honoring it. At least this person sounds serious about following what he signs.

[opiesilver]

I would find someone else. It appears to me that he is looking to make sure you can't sue him.