Tag Archives: agreement

Can a Noncompete be Unwritten?

It is possible — at least theoretically — to have a purely oral noncompete agreement.  A covenant not to compete is, most fundamentally, a contract, and a valid and legally enforceable contract can be formed through purely verbal communications (with some exceptions not relevant here). Nevertheless, given the heightened scrutiny that noncompetes are subjected to under Massachusetts law, any employer wishing to be able to enforce a non-competition restriction in court would want the agreement to be in writing.… More