Employer asking me to violate their own trade secret aggreement.

Two years ago my employer had me sign a non-compete and a trade secrets agreement. However, since then my employer has repeatedly asked me to violate the trade secrets agreement (and possibly the non-compete) in order to "keep some clients happy." To be more specific, He wanted me to describe how I did something to a client so they could do it on their own. He either does not care or does not see the value in the specific service.

Recently one of these very clients privately contacted me asking me to do some minor consulting for them. I declined. However, this got me wondering if my employer would have any legal footing to prevent me from competing if I chose to since they them-selves are ignoring the provision. Or do they have that right since they are the employer?

Thanks!