Imho the only reason non competes should be permitted is if you’ve paid someone to acquire proprietary knowledge and that realistically the company's activities

Imho the only reason non competes should be permitted is if you’ve paid someone to acquire proprietary knowledge and that realistically the company's activities are the only reason that knowledge exists. It completely flies in the face of freedom of the worker to say you can’t jump ship to a competitor, unless you’re just doing it for trade secrets. It’s anti-employee to say “hey, after us you don’t get to go use the skills and experience you’ve worked so hard for because that would harm our profits.” Surely employees don’t enjoy the reciprocal benefit of a company not being able to fill their spot after they leave.