Florida’s CHOICE Act—short for “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth”—is now law, positioning the state as the most employer-friendly jurisdiction for restrictive covenants. In a surprising move, Governor DeSantis neither signed nor vetoed the bill, allowing it to take effect by default on July 3, despite its stated effective date of July
Restrictive Covenant Report
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New Texas Law Reshapes Non-Compete Rules for Physicians and Healthcare Practitioners
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed SB 1318 into law, introducing significant new constraints on non-compete agreements in the healthcare sector. Effective September 1, 2025, the law limits physician and healthcare practitioner non-competes to one year in duration and a five-mile geographic scope. It also mandates buyout provisions for all such agreements and renders non-competes…
Restrictive Covenants Under Fire: NJ Bill Proposes Immediate Ban on Non-Competes and No-Poach Agreements
New Jersey is poised to join the growing list of jurisdictions taking steps to curtail the use of restrictive covenants in employment agreements. A newly proposed bill (S4385/A5708) would impose a near-total ban on non-compete clauses—except for a narrow category of “senior executives”—and would also prohibit no-poach agreements between employers and workers. Read
Florida’s CHOICE Act: A New Era for Non-Compete and Garden Leave Enforcement
On April 24, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act. If signed into law, it will take effect on July 1, 2025. The CHOICE Act represents one of the most significant overhauls to Florida’s restrictive covenant laws in recent years, introducing new tools for employers to…
New Indiana Law Prohibits Physician-Hospital Non-Compete Agreements Effective July 1
Indiana is making strides to enhance physician mobility with a new amendment to its 2020 Physician Non-Compete Statute (Ind. Code § 25-22.5-5.5). This latest change, signed into law by Governor Mike Braun on May 6, 2025, broadens the limitations on non-compete restrictions to encompass all physicians employed by hospitals or related entities. The new law,…
Virginia Expands Non-Compete Ban: What Employers Need to Know
Virginia has taken a significant step in tightening restrictions on employment non-compete agreements. Governor Glenn Youngkin recently signed a bill that broadens the definition of low-wage employees under the state’s existing prohibition on covenants not to compete, Va. Code Ann. § 40.1-28.7:8. Starting July 1, 2025, this new statute will prevent employers from entering into…
Federal Trade Commission’s Sweeping Final Rule to Ban Non-Competes: What You Need to Know
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final rule prohibiting all non-compete agreements for all employees at all levels, with only extremely limited exceptions. The FTC’s much-anticipated action follows its January 2023 proposed rule and its review of over 26,000 public comments. Though approved 3-2 along party lines by the FTC,…
A Step Too Far? Governor Hochul Vetoes New York Non-Compete Ban
New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed Senate Bill S3100A, a bill passed by both houses of the legislature in June, that would prohibit all non-compete agreements. This is a significant and interesting end to a year of upheaval in the world of non-compete agreements and other restrictive covenants. Read more.
New York Enacts Law Limiting Employee Assignment of Inventions
On September 15, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a new section of the New York Labor Law limiting the assignment of inventions by employees to their employers. Specifically, Section 203-f of the Labor Law renders unenforceable provisions in employment agreements that require employees to assign certain inventions to their employer which…
More On The Federal Effort to Ban Non-Competes: The FTC’s Proposed Rule and the Workforce Mobility Act of 2023
In the world of restrictive covenants, 2023 got off to a hot start when, in early January, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to broadly ban the use of non-compete covenants nationally. Now, Congress has stepped into the fray, with a bipartisan group of Senators reintroducing a bill that,…