Final answer:
Non-compete agreements must be limited in time and geographic scope, and they must be reasonably necessary to protect the employer's legitimate business interests to be valid. They cannot enforce overly broad restrictions, and being contained in an employee handbook or not ancillary to employment is typically not considered valid criteria for enforceability. The correct answer is option A) and D).
Step-by-step explanation:
Non-compete agreements, which restrict an employee's ability to work for competitors or establish competing businesses after leaving a job, are only considered valid under certain conditions. These agreements need to balance the interests of the employer with the rights of the employee. To be enforceable, non-compete agreements typically must fulfill two key criteria:
- They must be limited in time and geographic scope. This ensures that the restrictions are not overly burdensome on the employee's ability to find future employment.
- They need to be reasonably necessary for the protection of the employer's legitimate business interests, such as trade secrets, confidential information, or customer connections that the employee had access to during their employment.
Thus, the correct answers highlighted are that non-compete agreements are valid if A) They are limited in time and geographic scope, and D) They are reasonably necessary for the protection of the employer. An arbitrary application to all employees through a handbook (B) or being non-ancillary to employment (C) are not typically considered valid criteria for enforceability.