Millions of workers believe they are bound by non-binding contracts
There are other ways in which the papers you sign might not be as binding as you think. Story time.<p>A while back, the startup I worked at was acquired by a large company known for its aggressive legal department. Everyone had to sign an agreement, including both intellectual property and non-compete clauses, or be fired. One guy actually did refuse, and was fired. A few years later, I left that big company to work for another startup. I was concerned about that non-compete, so I did a bit of checking and found that it was NOT A CONTRACT as far as the law was concerned. You see, a contract by definition requires consideration on both sides. The relevant courts had repeatedly found that an offer of <i>initial</i> employment counted as consideration, but an offer of <i>continued</i> employment did not. Thus, what I had signed was not a contract. Legally, it wasn't a non-binding or unenforceable contract. It was a non-entity. A piece of paper with some irrelevant squiggles on it.<p>I've heard that other ex-employees (and their lawyers and the courts) reaching the same conclusion is the reason that the big company in question adopted a policy of technically firing everyone from any startup they acquired, and then re-hiring them immediately under the same terms. The sole effect was to turn that continued employment into initial employment, non-consideration into consideration, validating the rest of the contract. It's now standard practice throughout the industry.