Noncompetition Agreements are a written contract between the employee and employer that generally restricts an employee's options to work for a competing organization during or after their employment ends with their current employer. The intended purpose of a noncompetition agreement is to prevent employees from providing a competing organization with specialized or unique knowledge, or intellectual property gained while in the employment of their current employer, and providing this knowledge to a competitor. A Noncompetition Agreement may also be referred to as Covenants Not to Compete, Nondisclosure Agreement, or Noncomp Agreements depending on industry or organization, but their use and purpose are the same.

Legally, noncompetition agreements are enforceable but must not hinder or limit an employee's ability or right to earn a living. That is, noncompetition agreements should not be general written statements that could restrict an employee's ability to perform the only type of work they are capable of or trained in. All noncompetition agreements must be specific enough that they protect legitimate business interests in order to be enforceable.

Beyond the typical perceptions of what noncompetition agreements protect, that being a company's trade secrets or patents, confidential information, specialized or unique processes and so on; noncompetition agreements also apply in many instances where employees are privy to customer information, business strategies, intellectual property, and other nontangible business unique information.

All noncompetition agreements must be in written form and to be legally enforceable must be signed and kept on file with the employer.

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