Beginning on January 1, 2025, employment-based non-compete covenants will be unenforceable against physicians, certified registered nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified registered nurse anesthetists (each,...more
Minnesota’s legislature rushed through several bills this year affecting recruiting and staffing associations and other service providers such as property management companies. One such law may, as one member of the Minnesota...more
Members of the New York City Council are looking to accomplish what the New York State Legislature could not – proposing various bans on the use of non-competes in New York City. On February 28, 2024, members of the New York...more
Most employers know that California has for decades prevented enforcement of employee non-competition and customer non-solicitation agreements. Some companies with California operations modify their agreements with employees...more
As previously highlighted by Benesch, California strengthened its long-standing prohibition on non-competition agreements on January 1, 2024. In addition, and also as previously highlighted by Benesch, one of these...more
California has long prohibited post-employment noncompetes, subject to certain narrow exceptions. Recently, it added some teeth to that prohibition in the form of a requirement for employers to notify California employees who...more
The Florida Legislature is currently considering two bills that, if enacted in their current form, would significantly reduce (and potentially eliminate altogether) the enforceability of noncompete agreements against...more
Two bills took effect in California earlier this month imposing further limitations on restrictive covenants in employment agreements, one of which voids noncompete agreements even if they are signed outside of the state....more
You may have heard the half-serious joke that California acts as its own independent country. One example of this is California’s strong disfavor of non-compete agreements, which stands in contrast with the rest of the...more
The California Business and Professions Code Section 16600 renders “every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind” as void, subject to narrowly tailored...more
On September 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 699 into law, prohibiting employers from entering into or attempting to enforce noncompete agreements, which are void under state law. The law is...more
Oregon law on permitted covenants not to compete has been amended to void nonconforming agreements and limit such agreements to employees making at least $100,533, among other changes...more
Franchisors and franchisees in California have long conducted themselves based on precedent that voids post-termination covenants against competition in a franchise agreement in California. Recently, a franchisor’s ability to...more
Most employers use contracts to protect their customer relationships and proprietary information from unfair competition by employees. They must. If they do not, they may lose their ownership rights in such business...more
Quick Hit: Effective October 1, 2019, Maryland law prohibits the use of non-competition agreements for employees with wages equal to or less than $15 per hour or $31,200 annually....more
Washington is the most recent state to adopt a law restricting the use of noncompetition agreements. The new law (HB 1450), which was signed by Governor Jay Inslee on May 8, 2019 and is scheduled to go into effect on January...more
On April 17, the Washington Legislature approved sweeping new restrictions on employers’ non-competition agreements with their employees and independent contractors. The bill, now headed to the Governor’s desk for his...more
A recent decision in the North Carolina Business Court could have significant implications on non-competition covenants in employment agreements that contain a very common automatic renewal term. The decision, if followed by...more
The Nevada Legislature recently passed, and the governor approved, a new law addressing employee non-compete agreements, which went into effect on June 3, 2017. The law expressly defines the standards for enforceable...more
Nevada’s Assembly Bill 276, which became effective on June 3, 2017 (the “NV Law”), articulates new rules and requirements for employee restrictive covenants, some of which fundamentally alter the State’s prior practices. The...more
Business Court Judges don't have to issue written Opinions in cases granting Preliminary Injunctions. (G.S. § 7A-45.3 limits the obligation to issue a written Opinion to rulings rendered per NCRCP 12, 56, 59, and 60). ...more
Although Georgia’s Restrictive Covenants Act has been on the books since the spring of 2011, no judge has decided the exact scope of Georgia courts’ blue-penciling abilities – until now....more
Nevada Companies Must Review Their Noncompete Agreements - The Nevada Supreme Court recently has injected substantial uncertainty into any Nevada contract that contains a noncompete agreement, and companies need to...more
As we have previously discussed, if you want your electronic contracts to be enforceable, it is a best practice to require the counterparty to affirmatively accept the contract by checking a box or clicking a button. A recent...more
Last week’s EmployNews reported a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision applying North Carolina law that invalidated an employment non-competition clause due to what it viewed as the overreaching scope of the restrictions....more