Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: non compete

Wow, you have a tough situation.

On the one hand, I suspect the non-compete they want you to sign is not legal and would not stand up in court. If the training they have given you includes some trade secrets specific to that company, they can ask you not to use or disclose those trade secrets once you are employed elsewhere. But they cannot forbid you to use training that is generally available in the industry that you happened to get from them.

You also don't mention if there are any geographic or time limitations. For example, if they want you to agree not to use these skills for a competitor anywhere in the US, forever, that contract is worthless. If they limit it to any competitor within one mile of their company, for the first three months after you leave (to use the other extreme), the contract might stand. However, courts generally do not favor non-competes and they have to be pretty narrowly tailored to survive the scrutiny of the court.

So in short, what they are asking probably would not stand up if challenged in court.

However, I here wish to acknowledge that you are now faced with the Hobson's choice of telling your employer that you do not want to sign their agreement, always an awkward approach to employee/employer relations, or signing the contract with intent to breach it, something I never like to encourage anyone to do.

Which option you choose will probably be dictated by the personalities involved and other factors particular to this employer, so I have no suggestions. Good luck!