The keyword is:
can a temp agency hold me to a non compete contract if i never signed it

Answers:
1) If you signed a confidentiality agreement or NDA, then probably (see the full post above.)
2) If you signed paperwork acknowledging that you were responsible for it (remember those one-pagers saying you received each of these documents?) then again, they can probably hold you to it even if you didn’t sign the non-compete itself. Why? Because this is a document — signed by you — that says you signed the non-compete. There’s no arguing with that.
3) In general, individual contributors stand a decent chance of winning a non-compete lawsuit. The question is, do you have that kind of money?

I wish I’d spoken with you before I posted. Your stories are great and bring out a couple of points I should have addressed.

As your old President said, non-competes often aren’t enforced by the courts — however, they don’t always make it to court. In many cases the employee can’t afford to fight the lawsuit. Asking you to sign a non-compete after leaving is fantastic! Interestingly, at least in Texas, that wouldn’t be enforceable at all because the employee has to receive something in exchange — typically an offer of employment, or in this case, maybe a sucker

I don’t know what to think about the second story… it takes all kinds, doesn’t it?

-Jeb

Nice post. It reminds me of two laughable stories from my past – both market research companies.

When I joined the first company the President told he didn’t believe in non-competes because they weren’t enforceable. After I left a couple of years later (on good terms, just moving to a different city for family reasons) my boss – somewhat embarrassed – asked if I’d be willing to sign a non-compete! This was after I’d left. I just ignored the request.

The other company was somewhere I didn’t want to work – and I’m very glad because they have a terrible reputation (both for market research and for poor treatment of employees). In our initial discussions, the President told me that I would need to sign a non-compete, but I shouldn’t worry about it because he (the owner) had also signed one. What a laugh.

Take care,
Mike