Non-compete agreements, or non-competition agreements, are contracts into which an employer and an employee enter that restricts the work the employee can perform for another company when the employee’s tenure at the employer company ends. 

Typically, it’s illegal to intentionally restrain trade; however, some states allow employers and employees to voluntarily enter into agreements with future employment restrictions. Contractors have several reasons to require that their high-level employees (e.g., C-Level) enter non-compete agreements.