Morning Brew - ⚖️ Objection, your honor

Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

🪥 Feel confident about your camera-ready smile with the Burst cordless Water Flosser. It comes in four shades and can be used with three different tips depending on your cleaning needs.

Show your love for audiobooks and support a local bookstore with Libro.fm. The site shares audiobook sales profit with a bookstore of your choice and gets you out of the Amazon/Audible circuit.

TikTok extraordinaire @cecexie exposes big secrets behind corporate interviews and gives great tips on career storytelling to connect past work experiences. This message will self-destruct in three…two…one…!

What’s top of mind at the watercooler.

After several interview rounds and endless networking mixers, you’re probably tempted to sign the first offer letter that hits your inbox ASAP. But before you sign, seal, and deliver any employee contract, read the fine print! To get the skinny on employment contracts, Sidekick spoke with labor attorneys Mahir Nisar and Brian MacDonough.

Any employee agreement—including an offer letter—is considered a contract as long as it represents material terms (such as pay, employment term, and benefits), MacDonough told Sidekick.

So first and foremost, make sure you understand the nature of the employment. Nisar and MacDonough laid out some specifics:

• Ask lots of questions. Is it a contractual agreement that is set for a certain term? Or is it an at-will agreement, which gives the employer the right to terminate you at any time with or without cause? Is there a notice provision that gives you the right to two weeks’ or one month’s advance notice in case of pending termination? Usually the type of employment determines whether other clauses (aka restrictive covenants) are applicable, such as relocation reimbursement, noncompete agreements, and nonsolicitation terms, MacDonough explained. If you do encounter any of these clauses, be cautious because both attorneys agreed these benefit the employer more than the employee.
• Nisar explained that noncompete clauses are “meant to protect the employer against unfair competition.” Depending on the terms, signing a noncompete could bar you from working at another company that works on similar projects or one in the same industry once your current employment term is over. Similarly, nonsolicitation agreements prohibit you from reaching out (professionally speaking) to colleagues or clients at the company should you ever depart. While MacDonough said enforceability varies state by state—California and the District of Columbia, for example, completely prohibit them—it’s always better to be clear about how the clauses apply to you specifically and negotiate whenever possible.
• And if you’re ever laid off, without or without cause, break out the old contract and determine what your next move should be. Consult a lawyer if you’re offered severance pay, and make sure not to sign any agreement that waives your right to make legal claims against the company in case you ever find you have probable cause to sue.

Remember: Most things are negotiable, and it’s your right to speak to an attorney. No matter how much you want the job, you need to make the best move for you.—SS

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: We all love swiping through beautiful short-term rentals, but there may be more than meets the eye. A recent NBC article revealed the dark side of Airbnb that includes former slave cabins available for rent.

Watch: A mash-up of Lost and National Treasure, Peacock’s new series The Resort follows one couple as they attempt to solve an unsolved mystery in the Yucatán. Just remember it’s “not Penny’s boat!”

Eat: Fire up your workweek lunch menu with this garlic naan pizza finished off with your favorite toppings (we’re opting for mushrooms and *extra* cheese).

This very special edition of F*ckup fables features a conversation with Kathryn Lindsay, newsletter engagement editor at The Atlantic and co-creator of the Embedded newsletter (which, for full disclosure, is also run by Nick Catucci, who is married to Leah Carroll, your Sidekick editor ).

Kathryn told us all about how she thinks social media got sooooo f*cked up, what she thinks we can do about it, and what she sees for its future.

Here’s some of what she had to say:

“[T]hings got f*cked up when the internet went from being majority-run by everyday users to being majority-run by companies. I don’t have any agency in my own internet use anymore because almost every site I go to has been designed specifically to warp my behavior toward whatever makes the company money—to target my anxiety so I feel like I need to keep scrolling, to get me addicted to the external validation of likes and engagements so I feel like I need to keep posting, to keep me on the platform at all costs and ideally buy something from it, too.”

Pearls of career wisdom.

“[My advice to young professionals is] to believe in your ability to make a profound impact by showing up as your most authentic self. Your life experiences have provided you with a unique perspective that’s valuable and insightful to others. There’s no need to fake it till you make it because everyone is powerful in their own right, and by leaning into that, others will, too.”—Tara Lewis, VP of community expansion and trends at Yelp