Non-compete agreement

A non-compete agreement is a promise by an employee or contractor not to compete with his employer within a certain distance and within a certain amount of time after termination of the arrangement.

This type of agreement is common among physicians, but three states (Colorado, Delaware and Massachusetts) prohibit them as a matter of public policy. They are enforceable in other states, but will be invalidated if unreasonable in geographic scope or duration, or if they fail to make a reasonable accommodation of the needs of patients.

Most recently, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a physician non-compete agreement in Mohanty v. St. John Heart Clinic.