> I'm curious, was there any actual legal action or was it just the threat? One particular instance that stands out in my mind was for someone who I saw hired

> I'm curious, was there any actual legal action or was it just the threat? One particular instance that stands out in my mind was for someone who I saw hired into the company for a specific role with a certain scope. The previous company's HR then sent a letter to the new company's HR telling them about the employee's obligations under the NDA. The new company's management decided the prospect of a legal issue was too much a hassle, so they reassigned the new hire to a different role outside their direct area of expertise and with a smaller scope for a year. AFAIK, there was never really an opportunity for the employee to say, "No, don't do that, I'll shoulder any legal responsibility if the previous company decides to get nasty about this." The simple "it would be a shame if something were to happen" letter between HR departments was all it took to put the worker in a career tarpit for a year.