legal, employeesIs it common to put NCC on the employee contract, require that the employee not to compete with the current company (e.g. join a competitor, or start a company compete in the same business domain) after X months of the leaving?
Are these clauses really useful in the court (US law)?
Almost every company has non-compete clauses in their employment contracts. The primary exception is companies in states where such clauses are not allowed (e.g., California).
These clauses are very effective in preventing employees from quitting their company to work for a competitor. Employees know that their contract has such a clause and many are afraid that they will be sued.
In practice, however, these clauses are rarely enforced. I worked for a big tech company with offices in Seattle, Boston, and California. In all three locations, people were constantly quitting one tech company to work for a competing tech company and no one got sued. The clauses are more likely to be enforced if you are a higher level executive than a programmer.
In sum, these clauses are effective in preventing the risk averse from quitting. In practice, it is unlikely that the clause will be enforced unless you are a higher level executive.
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