> The VP's contract is irrelevant when we're talking about staff.
No it's not. If the VP's contract says "The company will hire an assistant for you" then the assistant negotiates with HR for their salary like a regular employee. If the VP's contract says "You get $100K/yr to hire an assistant" then the assistant can't get a raise until the VP's contract changes.
> The VP's contract reasonably protects the VP from the consequences of a non-compete.
It might, or it might not. Contracts do whatever they say they do. If the contract says "You and your staff can't work for any of our competitors unless it's a leap year and you say Pretty Please" then that's what it says.
More generally, above a certain level, executives are more like a small agency than a single person. If you hire Tim Cook to be the next CEO of your startup, he's going to bring his current assistant(s) with him, he's not just going to inherit whoever the old CEO's assistant was.
No it's not. If the VP's contract says "The company will hire an assistant for you" then the assistant negotiates with HR for their salary like a regular employee. If the VP's contract says "You get $100K/yr to hire an assistant" then the assistant can't get a raise until the VP's contract changes.
> The VP's contract reasonably protects the VP from the consequences of a non-compete.
It might, or it might not. Contracts do whatever they say they do. If the contract says "You and your staff can't work for any of our competitors unless it's a leap year and you say Pretty Please" then that's what it says.
More generally, above a certain level, executives are more like a small agency than a single person. If you hire Tim Cook to be the next CEO of your startup, he's going to bring his current assistant(s) with him, he's not just going to inherit whoever the old CEO's assistant was.