Pressure and Agreement Don't Mix

Suzanne Lucas, taking a time she handled layoffs for a company as a point of departure, provides excellent advice regarding contractual agreements of any kind:

Don't sign anything you disagree with. An honest company has no problem with you taking your documents to an employment attorney to check out. A dishonest company will freak out and demand that you sign RIGHT NOW.

And much later:

Image by Romain Dancre, via Unsplash, license.

Yes, lawyers cost money, and sometimes it is not worth it. But, it costs you nothing to say, "Let me take these documents to my attorney." You can decide later whether you want an attorney to review them. It's the reaction you're looking for. If they freak out and tell you to SIGN RIGHT NOW, you can rest assured it is not in your best interest to sign[.] [bold added]

For anyone who might resemble Past Me in terms of inexperience or lack of assertiveness, two supporting facts might help cement these lessons in mind, in case you might need them later, insofar as employment is concerned.

First, you are (or might become) an employee, not a slave. The worst-case scenario is what? You're not working for someone who wants to pressure you? That's a blessing, as disguised as it might seem in the moment.

Second, it can take time to make any decision. If, in a legal context, you voice agreement with another party without satisfying yourself that you do, in fact agree, you are not being honest, and you will be held to account for it. Signing your name to a piece of paper might be easy in the moment, but the consequences could be painful for a long time.

Outright slavery is illegal today, but the next "best" thing for a shady operator is being able to point to a signature that makes it appear that you consent to a bad arrangement.

Contracts are legal agreements between equals. Anything other than an appropriate pace and a professional demeanor in their negotiation is a sure sign that, at the very least, caution is in order.

-- CAV

P.S. It can also help to consider the following: If you were seeking an agreement with someone else, wouldn't you want them to make the best-informed and most careful decision possible? For that reason alone, it should bother you a lot when someone tries to keep you from doing the same.

Updates

Today: Added a P.S.