• A noncompete agreement is required to be fair in scope.signing a contract image by William Berry from Fotolia.com
  
  There are legal requirements for noncompetition agreements. Common noncompete agreements are between an employer and employee, by way of the employer. Employers in a particular industry can protect their interests through a noncompete agreement. For example, a dance teacher might sign such an agreement with the school she works for. The noncompete might outline that she would not teach at another dance school within 100 miles and one year of the ending of her employment at the current place.
  
  

Supported Requirements

• The employee who signs the noncompete agreement must be supported, meaning she must receive something of value in exchange for signing the agreement. The "supported" requirement is a good faith gesture on behalf of the employer.
  
  In a situation where the individual is just beginning employment with the employer, this employment will be the thing of value. In the case of an employer's asking an already-employed individual to sign a noncompete, the thing of value might be a promotion or a signing bonus.
  
  

Protection of Interests

• The business most likely has a base of clients, patients or customers that it would like to protect, which can be done through noncompetition agreements. Essentially, the employee agrees to not steal any of the employer's contacts or customers in the event the employee leaves.
  
  

Reasonable Agreement

• Reasonableness is one of the requirements for noncompetition agreements. Asking a salesperson to cease sales of any kind within a 1,000-mile radius is not a reasonable request. Furthermore, asking a dance teacher who makes her living teaching dance to cease from teaching 10 years after quitting the employer's dance studio is not reasonable. Another aspect of this requirement is that confidential client information cannot be expected to be confidential longer than the information is relevant.