The vast majority of states permit post-employment non-competition agreements. These are agreements in which employers can prohibit tech workers from competing with their ex-employer for a period of time (generally 1–2 years) after they leave their employment.

Those states, and the employers in those states that support the agreements, justify the agreements by claiming that they are necessary to protect the employer’s confidential or proprietary information (“trade secrets”) and to encourage employers to invest in training their employees.