Passion

I signed my Google separation agreement today. I'd been sitting on it because one clause seemed a little weird, but I wasn't able to find any discussion of it. Most of the agreement is set up to limit future legal risk to Google based on my employment there, in exchange for paying me a bunch of money. For example, it says I won't sue them for workplace harassment or unfair labor practices I might have experienced there. But the no cooperation clause doesn't seem to be limited to just events related to my employment:

11. No Cooperation. Other than in connection with filing a charge or participating in any investigation or proceeding conducted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, or other comparable federal, state, or local agency, or under a valid subpoena or court order to do so, or otherwise as permitted by applicable law, you will not counsel or assist any attorneys or their clients in the presentation or prosecution of any disputes, differences, grievances, claims, charges, or complaints by any third party against the Company, Alphabet Inc. or any Released Party. For attorneys, nothing in this Section (No Cooperation) will restrict or limit your right to practice law or represent future clients, as described in the state bar rules of professional conduct of the state in which you are licensed to practice law (“the Rules”); provided, however, that you must honor all of your other continuing ethical obligations to the Company and the Released Parties under the Rules, including as to client confidentiality and privilege. Notwithstanding the foregoing, consistent with applicable law, nothing in this Agreement prevents you from disclosing the facts or circumstances underlying your claim or action for sexual assault, sexual harassment, workplace harassment or discrimination, the failure to prevent workplace harassment or discrimination, or retaliation for reporting or opposing harassment or discrimination.

This stands in contrast to the cooperation clause, which follows next and is specifically tied to topics "that relate to matters within your knowledge or responsibility during your employment with the Company."

12. Cooperation with the Company. You agree to cooperate with the Company regarding any pending or subsequently filed internal investigations, litigation, claims, or other disputes or legal proceedings involving the Company that relate to matters within your knowledge or responsibility during your employment with the Company. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree: (a) to meet with the Company’s representatives, its counsel, or other designees at reasonable times and places; (b) to provide truthful testimony to any court, agency, or other adjudicatory body; and (c) to provide the Company with notice of contact by any adverse party or such adverse party’s representative except as may be required by law. The Company will reimburse you for your time at a reasonable hourly rate and other reasonable expenses in connection with the cooperation described in this Section.

To my non-attorney reading, the no cooperation clause attempts to prohibit me from assisting an attorney with a lawsuit regarding facts which occur far in the future from now. For example, if ten years from now I work at Acme Inc and am involved in a contract dispute regarding business conducted between Acme and Google it seems surprisingly restrictive to claim I can't work with Acme's lawyers on a lawsuit against Google just because I took an exit package from Google a decade before the matter in dispute arose.

Since this bug in the contract is hypothetical—I don't have any particular plans to get involved in a lawsuit against Google—it's not worth six figures to me not to sign the agreement, or to go track down an employment lawyer to explain why the paragraph doesn't work the way I'm reading it. If the issue comes up, I'll let the attorney who wants my input figure out what it means.