>Interesting here is that it's the new employer firing an employee for non compete

She wasn't technically fired for non-compete. From the article:

> On the application there was a question asking me to check a box acknowledging I wasn’t subject to any restrictive covenants that would prohibit me from doing my job at Reuters. I checked it.

[...]

>I was technically fired for “dishonesty,” because of the box I had checked.