Mike,
>>The other type of agreement is a non-compete, which says that after you leave the company you will not go into competition with them. You have hit the nail on the head. For a non-compete to be legally enforceable it has to be specific in three ways: industry, geographic area, and time. So it can't say you will not join or start a similar company anywhere in the country for the rest of my life. In general -- and there are state to state differences -- if it's in the same industry and the same area for one year, that is considered reasonable and enforceable. Note the word "enforceable." Just because you sign an agreement doesn't guarantee it can be enforced.
One of the best responses I've seen online in some time. Thanks!
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
