It's amazing that with all the absolute fukkery going on this situation coming from every direction, the funniest shyt in the last 50+ pages of this thread has been watching the brilliant legal minds from the esteemed Law Firm "Coli, Know Nothing & CAC" debate how Non-Competes work 
Just to set a baseline, most companies just make you sign a Non-Solicitation agreement as standard job offer language goes. But 99.9% of front end Non-Compete agreements signed when you start employment are only activated if you voluntarily leave a company, or if you are fired with cause. If a company lays you off or fires you without cause (down-sizing, reorganization, etc), they are non-binding. So for anybody not paying attention, Joe went out of his way to say "Rory you are in breach of your contract.....you are fired".
Now that we got that out of the way, anyone who knows anything about contracts knows that Non-Competes are some of the LEAST enforceable legal documents in the country. The US Legal System is 1000% based around capitalism, which is fundamentally built around free and fair trade and your right to make money. In well more than 50% of situations where a non-compete could come into play, the Company doesn't even bother because its not worth the time or effort to even try to enforce it. Joe is as petty as they come, so i will assume he would try to do it. For that shyt to not immediately be thrown out of the first court desk it hits, there has to be some crazy, egregious situation or circumstance that even went down to even get in front of a judge to discuss this shyt. And even if somehow, someway you get all the way that far....and I think the last stat I saw a year or two ago was that less than 20% of Non-Compete cases actually make it to a judge.... you then have to prove why despite whatever it was that happened, it should prevent the former employee in breech of the Non-Compete from earning income. Over the last decade or so, roughly 10% of those cases that went the full distance actually ended up being ruled in favor of the Corporation. So 9 out of 10 times even if you waste your time and your energy and resources and get the court to agree that your former employee meets the terms of the Non-Compete, they tell you to take a fukking walk anyway.
In summary, as a person currently under a Non-Compete, who has quit a job and went to a direct competitor while under a Non-Compete more than once in the last 10 years of my career, let me end with this. Non-Competes are standard pieces of paperwork in big business that are an afterthought used as a last resort to protect a company in an absolute worst case scenario. And that doesn't even take into account that most Non-Competes are signed when someone is laid off, and tied to a payoff bag an Exec or Senior Leader is given on the way out. Basically, we're laying you off, but we'll give you X amount of money if you agree not to go work for Companies XYZ for the next 1-2 years, and if you do you have to pay it all back.
THAT LAST PART is 100% enforceable, but typically someone at that level is getting an even bigger sign-on bonus where they land, so paying it back isn't usually a problem. I experienced that coming to my current company
Just to set a baseline, most companies just make you sign a Non-Solicitation agreement as standard job offer language goes. But 99.9% of front end Non-Compete agreements signed when you start employment are only activated if you voluntarily leave a company, or if you are fired with cause. If a company lays you off or fires you without cause (down-sizing, reorganization, etc), they are non-binding. So for anybody not paying attention, Joe went out of his way to say "Rory you are in breach of your contract.....you are fired".
Now that we got that out of the way, anyone who knows anything about contracts knows that Non-Competes are some of the LEAST enforceable legal documents in the country. The US Legal System is 1000% based around capitalism, which is fundamentally built around free and fair trade and your right to make money. In well more than 50% of situations where a non-compete could come into play, the Company doesn't even bother because its not worth the time or effort to even try to enforce it. Joe is as petty as they come, so i will assume he would try to do it. For that shyt to not immediately be thrown out of the first court desk it hits, there has to be some crazy, egregious situation or circumstance that even went down to even get in front of a judge to discuss this shyt. And even if somehow, someway you get all the way that far....and I think the last stat I saw a year or two ago was that less than 20% of Non-Compete cases actually make it to a judge.... you then have to prove why despite whatever it was that happened, it should prevent the former employee in breech of the Non-Compete from earning income. Over the last decade or so, roughly 10% of those cases that went the full distance actually ended up being ruled in favor of the Corporation. So 9 out of 10 times even if you waste your time and your energy and resources and get the court to agree that your former employee meets the terms of the Non-Compete, they tell you to take a fukking walk anyway.
In summary, as a person currently under a Non-Compete, who has quit a job and went to a direct competitor while under a Non-Compete more than once in the last 10 years of my career, let me end with this. Non-Competes are standard pieces of paperwork in big business that are an afterthought used as a last resort to protect a company in an absolute worst case scenario. And that doesn't even take into account that most Non-Competes are signed when someone is laid off, and tied to a payoff bag an Exec or Senior Leader is given on the way out. Basically, we're laying you off, but we'll give you X amount of money if you agree not to go work for Companies XYZ for the next 1-2 years, and if you do you have to pay it all back.
THAT LAST PART is 100% enforceable, but typically someone at that level is getting an even bigger sign-on bonus where they land, so paying it back isn't usually a problem. I experienced that coming to my current company
