Employers should review their form agreements and practices to determine what modifications may be required to comply with new restrictions in Illinois, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, D.C.

Key Points:

..Effective January 1, 2022, the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (IFWA) will be amended to prohibit employers from entering into non-competes and non-solicits with employees who earn $75,000 or less and $45,000 or less, respectively. The amended IFWA will also (i) require employers to counsel employees to consult with an attorney before entering into a non-compete or non-solicit, (ii) require employers to give employees at least 14 days to consider signing a non-compete or non-solicit, and (iii) permit the Illinois Attorney General to pursue action and impose monetary penalties against employers whose practices violate the IFWA.

..Effective January 1, 2022, the Oregon non-compete law will be amended to require employers to limit the temporal restrictions in non-competes to 12-months post-termination. The law will also prohibit employers from enforcing non-competes against employees who are classified as non-exempt and/or earn $100,533 or less per year, unless the employer has agreed in writing to pay the employee during the post-termination restricted period in accordance with the law.

..Effective October 1, 2021, the Nevada non-compete law was amended to make non-competes with hourly employees unenforceable.

..The D.C. Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act, discussed here, was expected to apply in October 2021, but now will apply on April 1, 2022.