[lawstudent2]

> How long does the period of continued employment need to be in order to be considered further consideration?

Non-zero.

In reality, my guess is that because courts don't love to see non-competes overbroadly upheld in the fist place, if you have a super restrictive non-compete that was given to you in exchange for $20, and it was given to say, a burger flipping teenager, or someone with dubious employment status, or huge medical bills, something else that made it an unequal bargaining position, it is very likely a court would reduce the scope of the non-compete or throw it out completely.

There are no hard and fast rules in non-compete-land. Courts can and do throw them out or reduce their geographic or conceptual boundaries relatively often. And the rules are not particularly byzantine or arcane - they are pretty straightforward. Sophisticated parties making a deal that includes valuable consideration in exchange for a business restriction will be upheld - a punitive contract for little money that basically prevents a worker from practicing his fungible skillset and keeping out of the taxpaying economy may not be.