Non-Compete Agreements

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Key Takeaways for D.C. Employers

  • Verify compliance with the new $17.95 minimum wage effective July 1, 2025.
  • For government contractors and assistance recipients, ensure workers are paid at least the living wage rate tied to CPI adjustments.
  • Review non-compete agreements to confirm they are limited to qualifying highly compensated employees and comply with statutory notice and duration requirements.
  • Display the updated DOES Minimum Wage Poster once released.

Each year, the District of Columbia (the “District”) updates key labor and employment laws affecting local employers and workers alike. For 2026, important changes include new wage rates under the Living Wage Act of 2006 and the Minimum Wage Act, as well as revised compensation thresholds under the District’s non-compete law.

Employers operating in the District should review these developments to ensure policies, contracts, and pay practices remain compliant going into the new year.Continue Reading 2026 Washington, D.C., Labor & Employment Law Updates: Minimum Wage, Living Wage, and Non-Compete Changes Employers Must Know

Takeaways

  • The FTC’s withdrawal of its broad non-compete ban does not signal a retreat from enforcement—in fact, the agency is sharpening its focus.
  • Recent FTC actions show a clear shift toward targeted, case-by-case challenges to non-compete agreements deemed unfair or overbroad.
  • A new FTC complaint highlights the agency’s concern with blanket non-competes applied without regard to job role or responsibility.

It would not be unreasonable to question the future of FTC enforcement against non-compete agreements after the FTC abandoned the prior administration’s rule banning nearly all employee non-compete agreements.[1] But the FTC has signaled its intent to continue enforcement against those non-compete agreements that unreasonably restrain employment options in a more targeted, case-by-case manner under Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. § 45).Continue Reading FTC Signals Continued Scrutiny of Employee Non-Compete Agreements

UPDATE

Texas’s S.B. 1318 was signed into law. As a result, restrictive covenants entered into or renewed on or after September 1, 2025, for the following healthcare practitioners in Texas must comply with the new law:

  • Physicians;
  • Dentists;
  • Nurses; and
  • Physician assistants.

To comply with the law, new covenants related to the clinical practice must:

  1. provide for a buyout in an amount that is not greater than the practitioner’s total annual salary and wages at the time of termination of the practitioner’s contract or employment;
  2. expire not later than the one-year anniversary of the date the contract or employment has been terminated; and
  3. limit the geographical area subject to the covenant to no more than a five-mile radius from the location at which the health care practitioner primarily practiced before the contract or employment terminated.

These provisions must be clearly and conspicuously stated by using bold face type, capital letters, or contrasting colors so that a reasonable person would notice them.

Physician non-competes are subject to the additional provisions of the Act discussed below.

Takeaways

  • SB 1318 would expand non-compete limitations on physicians, dentists, nurses, and physician assistants.
  • Restrictive covenants would be limited to one year in duration and a five-mile geographic scope.
  • If enacted, the law would take effect September 1, 2025, and apply only to new or renewed agreements, prompting employers to review and revise their current contracts.

A significant proposal that would limit non-compete agreements for physicians, dentists, nurses, and physician assistants in Texas is headed to Governor Abbott’s desk. Senate Bill 1318 (SB 1318), authored by Senator Charles Schwertner seeks to balance employer protections with workforce mobility and patient care.

For healthcare employers, the legislation will require substantial changes to new non-compete contracts in Texas.Continue Reading UPDATED: Texas Reshapes Non-Competes for Healthcare Workers: What Employers Need to Know

On July 3, 2024, Judge Ada E. Brown of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction in Ryan et al. v. Federal Trade Commission, preventing the FTC’s rule banning most noncompetes from going into effect, but only for the party who brought the litigation challenging the rule, Ryan, Inc. The Court promised that it would enter a final ruling on the merits of the action by August 30, 2024—just days before the FTC rule is set to go into effect. That final ruling likely will have implications for the rule’s enforceability throughout the nation.Continue Reading Judge Preliminarily Pauses FTC Noncompete Ban as Applied to the Texas Challengers; Ruling on the Merits Expected in August

In an open commission meeting on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-to-2 to ban nearly all non-compete agreements between employers and workers (broadly defined to include employees, independent contractors, and others, whether paid or unpaid). The effective date of the final rule could be on or about August 23, 2024, depending on the success of legal challenges, which have already commenced. Continue Reading Federal Trade Commission Approves Final Rule Banning Nearly All Worker Non-Competes