Jonathan Pollard

I just found out that a subscription service we canceled in 2017 has continued to bill us $20 a month for the past 3 and 1/2 years. This is a great example of how big, corrupt companies in America make money. Let's unpack this.

As a business, we are not going to notice a $20/month recurring expense. If it was $1,000 or $2,000 a month? Yeah, ok, we are going to pay much more attention. But think about all the different levels here. There are plenty of companies that won't even bat an eye at a recurring expenses unless its much higher than that-- 5k, 10k, etc.

This is just one more way that corporate America defrauds people (and defrauds other companies): The recurring charge that never cancels. You know what I call this? The LA Fitness model. I tried canceling my LA Fitness membership for YEARS. And they made it impossible. I mailed them forms. I emailed the company. I stopped by the gym. But they JUST KEPT CHARGING ME.

That's corrupt corporate America strategy 101: Just keep charging people. If you've got their bank account number or credit card? Just keep charging them. Their entire philosophy is basically “Come stop us bro.“ Because THEY KNOW that in order for you to stop them from billing you, you will have to jump through several hoops to block them. You might even have to cut off your credit card, get a new credit card number, change all your auto-pays, etc. Corporate America is banking on this! This isn't accidental. It is a calculated corporate strategy.

Think about it: The latest company that did this to me made $20 a month for 3.5 years. That's $840 that they stole from me. Wow. If they steal even an extra $200 from 10,000 people, that's $2 million. This is corporate economics 101.

These sorts of companies (1) hide behind arbitration provisions and (2) assume that nobody will sue them over $100, $200, or even $840. And usually they are right.

BUT--- (1) Charging people after they have canceled a subscription violates basically every state's unfair/deceptive trade practice act. And those have attorneys' fee provisions. And - perhaps more importantly this time - (2) I own a law firm.

So I'm suing them to make an example. Stay tuned.

I never got along with my dad. He had plenty of issues. I won’t recount them here. Suffice to say he wasn’t a nice guy. And he couldn’t handle the responsibility of having 4 kids. My parents finally got a divorce after I’d moved out and gone off to college. After that, my father and I didn’t speak for about 18 years.

Years ago, I sent my dad a letter in the mail telling him I forgave him and wishing him the best. I didn’t really mean it at the time. I was maybe 25 or 26. I did it because I knew I had to let go of all the anger and the hate. And I didn’t know how to do that. But sending him a letter and telling him I forgave him seemed like a good first step.

Years passed. Then I became a dad. And the strangest thing happened. I truly had forgiven my father for everything. For all his faults and for all the terrible things he had done, I had learned a lot from him.

I knew he would never reach out to me. He would never apologize. That wasn’t his way. The younger me never would have reached out to him. But being a father myself, something had changed. Something deep down inside of me told me I had to make things right with him. I had to be the bigger man. So I went out to see him and patch things up.

I don’t know if i did that for him or for myself or for my son. But I did. And I’m glad.

There’s really no point I’m trying to make. The greatest blessing and joy of my life so far is being a dad.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads everywhere, especially the good ones.

JP

At the risk of pissing everyone off: So, Coinbase ran into huge financial difficulties and decided to freeze hiring. Unfortunately, that meant rescinding some job offers. Yes, that sucks. Coinbase is paying these folks two months salary. Naturally, the masses are outraged. One person whose offer was rescinded said the following:
“They told me they're going offer me training to help me find new jobs,“ he said. “I don't need that shit. The way they handled this, it was very unprofessional.““I'm very bitter with how there were no details and lack of documentation over how they came to this decision.”

Here’s the reality people:

1. Stuff happens. In life and in business. The economic tides change. Companies have to react. It’s not all sunshine and puppy dogs— and the expectation that it should be is ridiculous. That’s not reality.

2. Unless you have a contract guaranteeing you employment for a set term, you can be fired or “unhired” at any time.

3. Coinbase is paying these people who NEVER worked a day for the company two months’ salary. And offering training and other resources. I’m not a big fan of Coinbase, but I think that’s pretty fair.

4. Coinbase posted a $430 million loss for Q1 2022. Against that backdrop, what is reasonable to expect here?

5. I get sick of this portrayal of ALL employees as powerless victims. I’m not talking about poor people. I’m talking about employees in articles like this. Articles that portray highly educated, highly skilled tech workers making $100k or 150k++ a year as if they’re babies. Lots of these people who had their job offers rescinded are getting paid $20k or 30k+ for the inconvenience. And they’re going to complain and act like victims? Nonsense. Take that money and do something with it.

Big win for our client Gladys, who at 84 years old had the courage to pursue her dream of becoming a real estate agent. Her old company (where she worked as an administrative assistant for many years) told people she retired. Her old company sent her and her new company a cease and desist letter saying she was subject to a 5 YEAR non-compete. Her old company told people not to do business with her.

So we sued her old company. For defamation, tortious interference, unpaid overtime wages, false advertising, and a declaratory judgment to hold her non-compete agreement unenforceable.

The defendants moved to dismiss. Motion to dismiss denied on all counts. The case moves forward.

Gladys says we are like her grandsons.

“I will never reject ... the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. So help me God.“ Took that oath when I was sworn in as a lawyer. And I meant it.

Justice is never a given. Justice is never handed to you. You have to go fight for it.

Let's get it.

I know this dude who owns a decently profitable small business. He’s an absentee owner at this point. The business throws off $250k or so in profit / discretionary income in a year. He spends every dollar of that. New car for him and his wife every year or two. Massive house. Expensive midlife crisis toys. Up to his eyeballs in debt. \n\nHasn’t given anybody a raise in 4 years. That’s right: 4 years. And with inflation the way it is, people are starting to leave. A lot of these people were friends and family. His boys from back in the day. But dude would rather get a new Range Rover than pay his people $4 or $5 more an hour. Or pay the people who are REALLY running the business 15k or 20k more a year. Penny wise and pound foolish. \n\nIf you have good people, take care of your people and they’ll take care of you. Don’t and—- well, you’ll see

A McDonalds in Florida hired Barry to work the grill and fryer. He was 59 years old. His direct manager repeatedly and profanely harassed him regarding his age. That manager had been with McDonald's for almost 15 years.
 
The manager sent him home from shifts. She told him he couldn't take meal breaks. She threatened his job. Some of her greatest hits:
 
“Oh my God, they assigned me a retarded slow ass motherfucker.”
 
“Too old to do this job”

“I can’t believe this old motherfucker was assigned to my shift.” 
 
Barry reported all of this to management (including the assistant general manager, general manager, and regional manager), many of whom witnessed the harassment firsthand.
 
Then his manager made a video of Barry with her mocking him and posted it on TikTok. An actual line from the video:
 
“They just be putting anybody on my overnights . . . Let me show you what this slow ass motherfucker done did.” The video pans down to a drink Barry prepared for a to-go order. The manager continues: “I said put me a large fruit punch in a large Uber bag. This is what he did y’all. He put it in a bag. We going viral, we going viral.” The camera pans back up to Barry, who is sweeping the kitchen. He's got his head down and is obviously humiliated. The manager states “He don’t wanna be on camera but he is.” 
 
She tagged the TikTok video of Barry with the hastags “McRetarded“ and “McDummies.“

At one point, she even told him to go home and not come back -- or else he would see what happened to him. So he quit.
 
McDonald's [me paraphrasing]: Uh, yeah but we had no idea and besides, he quit. So he has no case.

This type of ugly discrimination happens every day in workplaces throughout America. But because companies like McDonald's are so big and have so much money, their strategy is DENY and DELAY.

A manager knew? An assistant general manager? A general manager? A regional manager? Companies act like unless the CEO and the head of HR personally knew about a situation then (a) the company had no knowledge and no liability and (b) the situation basically never happened.

That's nonsense, of course. But if you are an employee and you want to guard against the typical corporate denial of “We never knew! We had no idea!“ -- Then put it in writing and send it to the powers that be. And definitely the head of HR.

Complaint below. We're filing 100 of these. Age discrimination, race discrimination, sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, defamation by a former employer, equal pay violations, retaliation ... More coming on Monday.

If a company threatens their 80 year old administrative assistant with a noncompete lawsuit ... after she worked around the clock for them for nearly two decades ... and after they never paid her any overtime ... And then, if they go to her new employer and threaten to sue them... and they have their lawyers send a boilerplate cease and desist letter that says this woman stole trade secrets and confidential information (because that’s what all the copy and paste cease and desist letters say)...

If a company does that, they might get away with it. Actually, in Florida, they probably will get away with it. BUT if they do that sort of thing in my backyard and I find out, I’m going to sue them for it. Unpaid wages. Liquidated damages. Defamation. Presumed damages. Punitive damages. Attorneys’ fees. The whole nine.

So be careful kicking poor and working people around. You never know who is watching. You never know who is listening. You never know when you’ll cross the line. You never know who will come to their aid, the people who will rally to their side, and the lengths those people will go to for justice.

Standby for the Complaint in our latest fight against noncompete abuse and wage theft.

Months go by. And I don't read much news other than niche publications for law, tech, business. I don't watch tv news. I don't listen to any radio news. I ignore probably 99% of all media.

Every once in a while, I dip back in and check out a news feed. Scan the tv channels in my hotel room and watch a few minutes of tv news (I don't have TV at my house).

Celebrity had an affair. Here's what Richard Simmons looks like today! Clickbait. Politician said some crazy shit. They're remaking some movie from the 90's. That gum you like is back in style. Some protests. Russia. And that's enough for me. After 10 minutes, I dip back out. It's the same shit on repeat.

You're not missing anything folks. Turn it all off for a few days. A week. A month. Spend more time with your family. Coach little kid sports. Go out into your community. Deliver meals to old people. Talk to people. Visit a nursing home. Go clean up the local park. Get the band back together. Go for a long hike in the mountains. Foster a dog. You know. Actually live your life to the fullest, rather than trying to keep up on all the constantly breaking developments and non-developments. You won't miss all the bullshit. Trust me.

People are always telling me to put my suit back on. People are always complaining about how I used to be such a professional. Always suited up. Every single day. I hear it all the time.

“You're really a lawyer? Dressed like that?“

“Your boss lets you come to work like that?“ Ha, my boss. The retort there is always, “Do you work in this building? Oh, really. Who writes the check for your office space? I write the check for mine. Come talk to me when your name is on the door.“

“You should dress more professional.“

“Clients want a lawyer who looks the part.“

“People would take you more seriously if you put your suit back on.“

Son, please. If I'm in court, then you'd better believe I'm dressed to the nines. But if I'm not in court? Then I'm probably wearing my hoodie.

People are just mad when they can't control you. People are just mad when you don't care about their opinions and don't need any favors from them.

True story: I have probably 20x the amount of business that I used to have back when I got suited up every day and “dressed the part“. Back then, I did it because I needed to look the part. I needed people to take me seriously. I needed to look like a lawyer in case I stumbled into some potential business during the day. I needed to establish myself as a professional.

These days? Ha. I can wear my hoodie to meetings with a billionaire with a B and nobody thinks twice. Nobody even cares. They all know what's up.

I'm a free man. I don't listen to slaves telling me how I should live.

JP

Oh noes. The FTC is about to ban all your bogus, overly broad, unreasonable, absurd employee non-compete agreements. I know--- everybody was having a great time limiting employee mobility and suppressing wages. And lots of lawyers - especially in Florida - were basically printing money from all the bogus non-compete lawsuits they were filing. I mean, seriously--- Florida was practically this huge non-compete cartel that was created and protected by lots of lawyers and powerful business people. Well, looks like that was fun while it lasted. Did the pro-non-compete cartel succeed in ruining the lives of millions of Americans? Absolutely. Did it make lots of people rich? Absolutely. Do some people love to preach about the sanctity of contract----- while ignoring the fact that ANTITRUST LAW is a thing..... yep, every day.

But is the era of rampant non-compete abuse going to continue? No. It's over. All of this nonsense is dead and done in the next couple years. Whether by federal law or state-by-state reform.

AND for those who ask if the feds can really do this? Yes. It's called antitrust. The Sherman Act. The Constitution. The Supremacy Clause. Federalism. Reminds me of the civil rights era when the feds had to get on the phone and say, “Listen here ole boy, you better simmer down or we're coming down there to stop that mess.“ Get ready for the fireworks.

Don't worry--- If part of your business model was non-compete abuse---- you have a new best friend: Trade secret lawsuits. And if you made a living suing people over bogus non-compete agreements, you can just go and sue them for “theft of trade secrets“. Yes, once non-compete agreements are banned, there will be a massive uptick in frivolous theft of trade secret lawsuits. Why do I say this? Is it because the Eye of Thundera gave me sight beyond sight? No. It's because greed and corruption are the human condition.

I've been fighting this fight for a decade. I just got here (to the obvious right answer) before society and the legal system.

JP

This is your life. This is real. This is not a dress rehearsal. Your time on this earth is finite. You'd better make it count. If you're just trying to survive, I feel you. But if you're past the struggle for survival and don't have to worry about basic necessities, then you have no excuses. At 25, you'd better have a sense of direction. At 30, you'd better be in the mix and working on accomplishing something significant. Don't get shook and cry about how I'm such an asshole. This is all true. Whether your big life goals are education, fitness, family, art, business, faith, or some combination thereof--by 30, you'd better be getting it in on one or more fronts.

Most people spend their entire lives obsessed with the past and dreaming about the future. They are never fully alive and present right now. Most people put off accomplishing their dreams and goals until next month or next year. They imagine a future in which they've figured everything out, gotten everything just so, and can finally focus on achieving X. That future never comes. Years go buy. The 25 years olds who bullshit about their plans to do something great quickly - in the vast scheme of things - become 45 year olds who have done nothing.

Mortality is a powerful motivator. You only get one. Make it count.

So for those who are new to the party, let me explain what I am doing here. My name is Jonathan Pollard. Having spent the first 25+ years of my life working class and sometimes poor, I am particularly concerned about how society (usually through powerful corporations) takes advantage of poor, working class, and middle class people.

The biggest issue that I focus on is how companies use and abuse non-compete agreements, often against poor people. They do this to prevent employee mobility & ultimately to suppress wages. Non-compete abuse is one of the biggest labor issues of our time. I've been on it for a decade now.

Other issues I care about: Antitrust generally. Discrimination (real, not fake). Wage theft (stealing money from poor people is never a good look). General dysfunction/inequity in the legal system.

I use this platform primarily to educate people about (a) various types of corporate abuse/misconduct (b) dysfunction in the legal system (c) common tricks and tactics that bad actors use to exploit that system (d) areas in which the law has been corrupted/misapplied & needs to be fixed -- and how I am working to fix it (e) their rights (f) how to fight back (g) how other lawyers can help this cause while making money.

I don't care who hates me. This is my mission.

Quiet quitting. Quiet firing. Now quiet hiring? This is all just a bunch of quiet crap. These are made-up buzzwords that often make no sense. And these are things that always happened dressed up as something new. The purpose of this meaningless jargon? To get clicks on articles. And, ultimately, beneath that, to sell advertisements.

It's wild that things have devolved to this point. Formulaic quiet crap clickbait on the top of the LinkedIn newsfeed. And splattered across countless other websites. And idiots who can't resist mindlessly clicking on the latest quiet crap trend.

Just because you can write this trash and it will be popular with the mindless masses doesn't make that right. Just because you can make up a “new“ cool sounding quiet crap trend doesn't mean that you should. Just because you can post some formulaic nonsense - about quiet crap or whatever else - and get a bunch of views doesn't mean that's a good thing.

We have reached the peak of content purely for the sake of getting clicks, views, likes. An internet flooded with mindless bullshit. And people who pat themselves on the back because they successfully executed a clickbait formula that any reasonably intelligent 8th grader could follow.

Just say no. Both to creating this drivel and to consuming it. Don't feed the machine.