My former employer is asking me to sign a non-compete clause retroactively, two months after I left the company. I'm not really sure if that's legal since I wasn't aware of it beforehand. Can he really force me to do this now?
No, generally your former employer can't force you to sign a non-compete clause retroactively after you've left. It's a labor law matter that depends on which country you're in, but in most jurisdictions, a non-compete clause needs to be clearly laid out and agreed to *before* or *during* your employment to have any chance of being valid. If you'd never heard about it before and it wasn't in your original contract, that's a bad sign for them.
Plus, imposing something retroactively raises obvious questions: you didn't get anything in return (no raise, no new position), and you've already left. Courts generally look at whether the clause is "reasonable" in terms of duration, geographic scope, and prohibited activities, but already, the lousy timing works heavily in your favor. My advice: politely refuse in writing (email works fine) saying you never agreed to it and weren't informed. Keep that correspondence. If they really push in a weird way, a quick consultation with someone in labor law in your area would be useful to know exactly what your local rights are - it's often free or cheap for an initial question.
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