I have worked as a software engineer for a company for the last 3.5 years. They just recently gave us a copy of a new "Employee Confidential...

Question

I have worked as a software engineer for a company for the last 3.5 years. They just recently gave us a copy of a new "Employee Confidentiality Agreement" to sign. This is much the same as a previous agreement that we all have already signed, but with an additional paragraph that has made the development staff very concerned (the paragraph will be included verbatim below, withholding the name of the company). When we (the development staff) were called together by the CIO, he told us that they would not alter the wording, and that if we did not sign by September 5th, then our employment would be terminated. He also told us that because we are salaried, anything we work on (software related), whether at work or at home or anywhere else, belongs to the company (you can understand our concern about the wording below).

Is this legal?

Here is the wording: "The Undersigned further agrees that all right, title and interest of every kind and nature whatsoever in and to copyrights, patents, ideas, business or strategic plans and all other intellectual property conceived by the Undersigned during the Undersigned's employment with [name withheld] and pertaining to or useful in or to (directly or indirectly) the activities of [name withheld] or any of its affiliates (collectively, "Company Intellectual Property") shall become and remain the exclusive property of [name withheld], and the Undersigned shall have no interest therein. Moreover, the Undersigned agrees that, at the request of [name withheld], the Undersigned will, at [name withheld]'s expense but without additional consideration, execute such documents and perform such other acts as [name withheld] may deem necessary or appropriate to vest in [name withheld] or its designee such title as the Undersigned may have to all Company Intellectual Property in which the Undersigned may be able to claim any rights by virtue of the Undersigned's employment with [name withheld]."

Answer

Whether your company can legally do this is a question about employment law. Please re-post it in that category. More lawyers with the relevant expertise will see it there, and future users with similar questions will be able to find it.

Good luck.