Protect personal creative IP from potential employer's IP agreement.

Question

I have a contract for hire offer from a major bank to work in an innovation group.  I am also an artist and writer (published) in my own right.  They are requesting me to sign a broad IP agreement giving them IP rights to my work including anything done on personal equip or time.  There is no opportunity for me to exclude my persinal IP that does not relate to their business, banking, finance, or innovation.  I am being hired to manage projects, not write code, invent etc....the one work that I would be doing would be drafting docs for the project as is standard for my trade.   
 
In addition, the agreement is placed under Florida law even though neither agency nor bank are headquartered in FL.   
 
Finally, i live in California and it is literally illegal for me to refuse work because I am on unemployment.   
 
I am concerned that i am being forced to illegally refuse a job to protect my creative because the major bank does not incl an exhibit for exclusions.

Peter D. Mlynek · Answer

Congratulations on getting a job offer.  You are to be commended that you are concerned about your IP rights while facing this agreement and a threat from the state. 
 
Unfortunately for artists, writers, and other creative people, over the past 10 or 20 years, the laws and court holdings have been more favorable to the employers over the employees, when it comes to intellectual property.  This makes things easier for me as an attorney representing companies, but may not be the optimal situation for employees. 
 
The point of this contract is that you are hired to do a job for an employer, and you give up the rights to the fruit of your labor.  Just like a chef in a restaurant doesn’t own the dishes that he prepares, or a factory worker making refrigerators on a factory line does not get to own the refrigerator, a person working for an innovative group for a bank does not get to own the new designs, documents drafted, etc.  In exchange for getting the dishes, refrigerators, and documents, the worker is paid a salary. 
 
Why is it so broad?  Well, because although the bank may have a good idea of what you will be doing in the next week, it won’t know not what you may be doing next year.  A project manager may end up doing work such as writing code or inventing a new product.  In 2019, many people don’t work 9-5, but they can telecommute from home and work around the clock; thus, there is no exclusion for work done on your own time. 
 
In reality, of course, it is unlikely that they will try to enforce their rights to your Facebook postings about your kids’ ballet or try to claim your vacation photos on Instagram or funny cat videos on YouTube as theirs.  The bank doesn’t really care about your blog or Facebook or Twitter or your performance at the county fair.  They just want to make sure that you whatever you do for them is really theirs. 
 
Although no attorney will tell you not to worry about it, many people take the practical approach and just ignore the IP agreement when it comes to their everyday generation of content on the internet. But if you are going to be selling a screenplay or a novel, then you are correctly worried.   
 
My advice is practical: while working for the bank, look for another job opportunity.  You’ll be in a much stronger negotiating position to request to exclude your writings and art with the next employer if you already have a job at the bank. 
 
Good luck!

Q: Protect personal creative IP from potential employer's IP agreement.