Chapter 2
“The HR director has already briefed me on your situation. There are no issues on that front. But there’s one condition I need to confirm with you. I’m not sure if you can accept it,
Timothy said, holding her resume. His tone was straightforward.
Victoria deltalle relieved and responded politely, “Please go ahead”
“They should have mentioned during the interview that this role involves working on an important new project. Upon signing the employment contract, you’ll also be required to sign a confidentiality agreement Timothy looked at her, ensaning the situation was clearly explained.
“Tunderstand.” Victoria replied without surprise
She had not worked much before, but she had a basic understanding of such agreements.
Timothy picked up the confidentiality agreement and handed it to her. “Take a look at this, If you can accept the terms, come in tomorrow to complete your onboarding. If not, then I suppose were not meant to work together”
Victoria took the document and read through it.
The contract stated that once employed, she could not resign without a justified reason. If she breached the agreement, she would have to pay one million dollars in damages. Clauses like this were fairly common in certain jobs. Some companies set high penalties to prevent employees from joining solely to steal trade secrets from core projects. “What do you think?” Timothy asked, seeing she had almost finished reading
“Can I take some time to consider? I’ll give you my answer before 8:00 pm tonight.” Victoria had suffered because of Leon before. Even though Jeremiah had assured her that this company had nothing to do with him, she still wanted to do her due diligence before making a decision
“Of course. This is a mutual selection process. Just let me know once you’ve made your decision,” Timothy responded decisively.
Victoria nodded and returned the confidentialityagreement.
After leaving the company, she immediately called Jeremiah and asked to meet. Since Leon had already stated he would not deliberately make things difficult for her, she was free to make her own choices. Besides, she was only seeking some basic information, not anything involving conflicts of interest
The two met at a cadé
After hearing her concerns, a trace of emotion flickered across Jeremiah’s brows. “One million dollars in penalty fees? “Yes” Victor nodded.
“That seems ridiculously high,” Jeremiah remarked. His own company had similar clauses, but only for top–secret, high–level projects. Even then, they only applied to executives, not employees Something about this situation felt off.
**It just seemed a little excessive, so I wanted to check with you before deciding, Victoria explained honestly.
“Hold on. Let rask someone if this is standard,” Jeremiah said, taking out his phone and dialing a number,
Half an hour later, Jeremiah received a response.
“Their standard penalty fee for confidentiality agreements for regular projects ranges from tens of thousands to a hundred thousand dollars. And that only applies if someone leaks confidential information For major projects, it’s indeed as you said. The company will impose strict resignation terms to prevent unintentional leaks, but they usually Blontu employees in advance,” be relayed
Victoria thought this words “Who did you ask?
Jeremudi replied, “The legal counsel at Nexus Interactive.”
Ve Doria was stunned “What?
She was gensanely surprised. “And they just told y you this outrigluhi
“My friend is close to their legal train. He asked on my behalf,” Jeremiah sald, having only learned about It later.
“As long as I’m not the only one under this kind of contract, that’s fine Thanks the get my paycheck, I’ll treat you to a meal.” Victoria felt relieved. The thought of soon having
Jeremiahi hesitated team. Why don’t you work for my company instead?
Il she worked elsewhere, Lecould still find ways to extent if she joined his company, he could at least offer her some protection,
Victoria declined, she knew Jeremiei neaut ark
But if Leon truly wanted to target, it would not matter where she worked she worked under one, he would still find a way to interiene.
