I suppose therefore that the basis of a non-compete agreement is that an employee will be so saturated with secrets that they couldn’t possibly work for a compe

I suppose therefore that the basis of a non-compete agreement is that an employee will be so saturated with secrets that they couldn’t possibly work for a competitor without implicitly revealing those secrets? Garden[ing*] leave is the usual solution to this: the employees are paid a salary to stay at home and do nothing during their notice period. They are cut off from the secrets so that by the end of their employment they no longer pose the threat of a leak. That feels like a fairer deal — are the non competes in NY state a kind that are effectively requiring unpaid gardening leave? That does indeed seem wrong *I always preferred the British version of this where the City gentleman spends the leave period tending to his roses rather than just lounging around on the lawn, hence gardening rather than garden leave.