the law bans this kind of thing now (as of October 2018): you simply can't have a noncompete unless the employee is exempt from overtime.

even for an exempt employee, the MA law now requires 50% salary to be paid for the period the employee can't work.

i don't know if existing agreements are enforceable or not though.

In my time in MA, I worked for three separate MIT startups, one top software company and one IP law firm. The law firm was the only one that didn’t require a noncompete. One of those companies was backed by one of the loudest voices in the Boston/Cambridge VC community campaigning against such agreements. The company had me sign an updated non-compete upon closing a funding round at the same time their VC was giving public speeches denouncing noncompete agreements in MA. Until the garden leave requirement covers 100% salary, the updated provisions to MA noncompete law are toothless.

Probably due to the culture of those in HR and Legal they have gown up for generations with these one-sided agreements and just implement them with out thinking.

A few high profile sackings of HR directors or General Counsels might help.

50% garden leave isn’t ideal. A lot of people aren’t in a position to take that pay cut (along with bonuses and RSUs) to hang out for a year. OTOH it makes companies put a fair bit of skin in the game which has considerable value.

Generally the 'exempt' thing needs to be pushed up to CEOs and such only as well.

Someone without the latitude to hire, fire and delegate as necessary should NOT be exempt.

There’s already a very limited set of exemptions, although most startups definitely pay zero attention to these laws. We’re very careful about them, but most aren’t; frankly, it’s very annoying to our non-exempt employees because tracking is a pain in the ass, but them’s the laws :/