A Reddit user says her former employer forged her digital signature on a noncompete agreement, then used that fake document to get her new job offer pulled just days before she was set to start. u/D3athStranding, a 29-year-old woman from Texas, posted the account on Reddit, and users are now weighing what she should do next.
What Happened
For three years, D3athStranding served as a senior operations coordinator. She then received an offer from another logistics firm that came with a 40% pay increase. She submitted her resignation notice according to procedure, giving her former employer the standard two-week advance notice.
Her new job was set to begin without trouble until three days before her start date. Then the new company withdrew its offer. She inquired about the reason and discovered that her old employer had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the new firm. That letter claimed she was still bound by a two-year noncompete agreement under Texas law.
The Signature Problem
She claims she never signed that agreement. D3athStranding asked for a copy of the document from her ex-boss, who reportedly sent her a PDF containing an electronic signature dated three years earlier. She then retrieved the PDF’s metadata and discovered the file had been created and signed four days prior to when she got it.
She thinks her signature was lifted from old tax paperwork that only her former boss could have accessed. The timing points to the document being prepared after she had already quit, she says.
New Employer Refuses to Help
She says she showed her new employer proof of the forgery, yet the offer was still not reinstated. D3athStranding claims the company wanted to avoid potential legal exposure.
She was left wondering what legal steps she might pursue against her former employer over a contract she said was fraudulent and its alleged effect on her new job opportunity.
Reddit Comments Offer Advice
A number of people urged her to get in touch with an employment lawyer and keep hold of every piece of documentation tied to the disagreement. One person in particular suggested she find a lawyer who deals with litigation and store away every email, the original PDF, and the extracted metadata file on a personal drive.
A reader recommended reaching out to an attorney about a preservation notice. That document asks that material that could matter to the case be kept safe before any legal action begins.
“When you get a lawyer, you may want to discuss with them about immediately sending a spoliation letter to the new employer advising them that they need to retain all the original documents submitted to them by the old employer due to pending litigation,” the commenter wrote.
What Comes Next
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the Reddit user’s allegations, including whether her former employer forged her signature or submitted the disputed document to her prospective employer. The account is based solely on D3athStranding’s description of the events.
D3athStranding’s account raises serious questions about how employers handle departing staff. A noncompete agreement can be a powerful tool, but forging someone’s signature to enforce it crosses a line.
Here is what the story shows, in order:
- D3athStranding accepted a better offer and followed proper notice procedures.
- Her former employer sent a cease-and-desist letter claiming she was bound by a noncompete.
- She found the document was created and signed after she resigned.
- Her new employer rescinded the offer.
- She showed evidence of forgery to the new company, which refused to help.
What makes this account truly troubling is not the forgery itself, but the new employer’s refusal to restore the offer even after evidence of it was presented. While the legal system is meant to settle such disputes, the road through it can prove lengthy and challenging.
Anyone who has quit a job should take warning from this account: hold onto copies of all your exchanges with your former employer, particularly any correspondence they send you. If anything about your departure starts to feel amiss, it pays to consult a lawyer at once.
Source material: “Reddit User Claims Former Employer Forged Her Signature on a Noncompete After She Landed a Job With 40% Higher Pay,” The Daily Dot.
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