The biggest problem with non-completes is that they have been weaponized to suppress wages against people without resources to fight them. Fast food employees should never be subject to them; it's absolute lunacy that assembling a burger involves any truly special training or unique skill that a company should be able to prevent someone getting a better job across the street later that same day.

I'm not in favour of banning non-completes entirely since I think they actually serve some function for highly specialized and compensated positions, but I do want to see pretty high levels of regulation. Non-completes shouldn't be allowed for any position making less than 3x the median wage. Any position making less that that simply isn't special enough for a non-compete to actually be protecting actual secrets. Companies should also be required to buy out any non-complete time at the employee's total compensation rate, including the average of the last 2-5 years of bonuses (whichever timeframe is highest) and any additional perks (like health care in the US since that can be a huge expense).

Totally agreed. My advice is targeted at laborers and employers who can afford the fight.

BTW, there's a lot of money to be made here by an enterprising lawyer. The laws have been moving fast and most companies -- even those that should know better and will get very little sympathy -- aren't playing by the rules.