Unless and until there is binding federal law governing noncompetes in all 50 states, noncompete agreements will continue to be governed by state law. In recent years, state legislatures have been increasingly active in regulating noncompetes and imposing minimum requirements that must be met before a court even reaches the question of whether the specific
As of July 1, 2026, Tennessee employers face a significantly different legal landscape for noncompete agreements.
On May 7, 2026, Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation that materially reforms Tennessee’s approach to restrictive covenants. The law is now in effect and applies to all noncompete agreements entered into, renewed, or amended on or after July 1
The Tennessee 114th General Assembly has recently passed significant legislation reshaping how noncompetes are evaluated and enforced. Specifically, the new law introduces bright-line rebuttable presumptions for the permissible duration of covenants not to compete and, for the first time, categorically prohibits noncompete agreements for employees earning less than $70,000 per year. Gov. Bill Lee has
A recent decision from a Georgia federal court offers hope that hiring employers may be able to provide financial assistance — even going as far as indemnifying their new hire from legal liability from their former employer — without creating significant exposure.
Employers frequently hire employees who have continued contractual obligations to their former employer
Knowing that there’s no rule against noncompetes, employers are back to drafting agreements with an eye to enforceability according to state law. While it is always important to know the law of the state where the employee works (and lives) to draft an enforceable noncompete, there are some general lessons that can be taken
Can you have noncompetes with employees or not? For a long time, state law governed the enforceability of noncompetes and then in April 2024, the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission voted to ban noncompete agreements almost entirely. The rule faced immediate legal challenges, and employers were left scrambling to change agreements or abandon them entirely.
The Florida Legislature passed the “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act” last month to provide employers two new outlets for protecting confidential information and client relationships from departing employees. Notably, the CHOICE Act does not change or limit Florida’s existing restrictive covenant law but rather expands it to provide a
The Federal Trade Commission has a new chairman — Andrew Ferguson. Prior to becoming chairman, Ferguson was sworn in as an FTC commissioner in April 2024 under then-President Joe Biden. Ferguson’s designation as chairman may seem like a benign political appointment, but it could have major implications for businesses and individuals alike, particularly for those
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is the perfect time to reflect on things for which we have to be thankful. In the ever-evolving world of labor and employment law, there have been several significant developments over the past year that employers can appreciate.
Here are five key updates for which we are thankful: