In reply to: Did he/she sell a practice and that was part of the posted by Raoul
They have their place, but it's not the one they have been occupying.
And the company has to protect that secret method of assembling a sandwich in front of you. Come to think of it, the sandwich wrapper might be a non-compete agreement that was just imposed on me for witnessing said assembly.
Structured to pay out annually, or after a certain number of years in a trust. 5 years to have your equity or funds vest. Or retention bonuses instead of guaranteed up front payouts.
No reason to keep a doctor from moving down the street if the person who bought the practice implements unethical practices which the doctor can not decline.
A monetary penalty for breaching the deal is not a noncompete.