Covenants not to compete (" noncompetes") are a well-recognized risk management tool for employers. Noncompetes prohibit employees from" engag [ing] in the same type of business for a stated time in the same market" as the employer.'Noncompetes are controversial, especially if employees had little choice on whether to agree and are left with few attractive employment options. Employers, on the other hand, argue the need for such covenants. News coverage of noncompetes abounds. 2 For example, an October 2013 report covered a Subway Restaurant manager in Detroit who signed a covenant not to compete with her employer's business within one hundred miles for one year. 3 When the manager left and took ajob with a competing

Teaching Professor, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame. I thank Professors Shelley McGill and Norman Bishara for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Thanks to Professor Laura Hollis, whose suggestion of expanded coverage of noncompetes in my graduate course set me on this research path. I am also grateful to Pat and Maria Murphy for their close reading and helpful suggestions.