Is a non-compete agreement signed 2 days before getting fired is valid
or effective?  Total lenght of employment was 3 months.  and they made
me sign the agreement 2 days before getting fired.  There was no
mention of any non-compete when i was hired.

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Request for Question Clarification by weisstho-ga on 15 Sep 2006 08:47 PDT

Only a court can determine whether it is effective and binding upon you. 

Your defense is one of "lack of consideration."  You gave away a right
of yours - a personal property right (agreeing to not work for someone
else (or yourself) in competition with your ex-employer.)  So, you
gave something away - what did you receive in return?

Further, there are other defenses as to what radius is involved (where
can't you do your work) and for how long are you restrained from
working?

You may want to review the Pricing Policy - or maybe you just need
this quick response. Let me know.

weisstho-ga

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Clarification of Question by topcarrot-ga on 15 Sep 2006 12:48 PDT

it was rather very simple non-compete.  it said that i can not
disclose any information to any of the company's competitors with
prior written approval.  There was no mention of not seeking an
employment with any competitors.  Nor did i recieve anything in
return.  They didn't even gave me a copy of the non-compete.  Usually
there is a witness that signs but in this half a page non-compete
there was no witness either.

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Clarification of Question by topcarrot-ga on 15 Sep 2006 12:50 PDT

from what i am thinking is they wanted to get rid of me and they kinda
drew up this non-compete them selves 2 days before without even
consulting a lawyer.

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Clarification of Question by topcarrot-ga on 15 Sep 2006 12:51 PDT

there also wasnt a clause that says something to the extent that i
have had adequte time to read and understand this non-compete
agreement as well.

Also varies by state a bit.  Here in WI as mentioned there needs to be
some compensation for signing one if you have been employed there for
a while.  The text also matters quite a bit.  For example, if it says
no work for any client of the company, that would not work here,
because it includes functions which you did not do for clients you had
never met.  It also must protect a legitimate business interest of
some sort... like if you knew some of their trade secrets.  Again,
that is, in general anyway, the stuff that doesn't work here in
Wisconsin.  It could differ in your state.

From what the clarification says, this is not a non-compete agreement,
just a formalization of the normal restriction that an employee may
not reveal information about his employer's business.  This is usually
included in employment contracts and company work policy statements. 
It is very unlikely that an employee would refuse to accept such a
condition, so I don't think there would be any grounds to complain
about it, since it is not a restriction on your seeking employment
elsewhere.

If the piece of paper had a heading that called it a non-compete
agreement or the like, the text is what is important, and it
apparently does not say this.

This is not legal advice, as you can read in the disclaimer below.