Florida’s CHOICE Act Revives Enforceability of Non-Compete Clauses

Just when you thought non-compete agreements were starting to be a thing of the past, think again. The Federal Trade Commission’s former ruling barring noncompete agreements is mired in the courts, and now, under a new presidential administration, the FTC doesn’t seem like it will be enforcing the ban.

Florida’s CHOICE Act

In Florida, the law is going the other way-there is actually a new state law that allows employers to impose restrictive covenants on employees. It’s called the CHOICE act.

The CHOICE act allows employers to put a non-compete agreement or restrictive covenant on an employee, so long as the employee earns twice the average yearly wage of whatever county in Florida the employer has their principal place of business in. If there is no principal place of business, the average yearly wage of whatever county the employee lives in, is used.

So, lower paid workers will not be bound by this law, and to see if employers can use the law, employers will need to determine what county qualifies as their principal place of business, if they have multiple locations.

Support is Not Needed

If the law does apply and does allow the employer to restrict the employee, the CHOICE Act seems to be even more restrictive (to employees) than previous laws regarding non-compete agreements.

It used to be that to impose a non-compete agreement, the employer had to show that there was some legitimate business interest being protected. But under the CHOICE Act, no such showing need be made; it doesn’t matter if there is any legitimate business interest being protected.

The former law also required that any geographic restrictions be reasonable in time, whereas CHOICE does not require such a showing, although the law does set a maximum cap of four years.

Getting and Breaking Injunctions

If an employee does violate the restrictive covenant, the court can enjoin the employee from working.

The employee can try to get the injunction dissolved, allowing him or her to continue working, if the former employee shows that his or her new work is not similar in nature to his old work, or that the employee isn’t actually working in an area that’s restricted by the restrictive covenant. Nonpayment of earned wages is also a defense, allowing an employee to have the injunction dissolved.

Procedural Requirements

There are requirements under the CHOICE Act and burdens are placed on the employer. Under the Act, the employer must allow 7 days to notify the employee that the employer intends to impose a restrictive covenant under the law, and give the employee 7 days to consider whether or not to agree to it.

Retroactivity

It is not clear whether the Act can be applied to employees who are already hired, or employees who already have an existing non-compete agreement.

Additionally, if there is an existing employee with no non-compete agreement, and you want them to now agree to one, there is still the necessity of consideration for the non-compete, which may not exist, thus invalidating the non-compete, if an employee is already hired and working for the company.

Questions about your business contracts? Let the West Palm Beach commercial litigation attorneys at Pike & Lustig help you.

Sources:

flsenate.gov/Committees/billsummaries/2025/html/3554

tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2025/07/08/gov-desantis-lets-three-bills-become-florida-law-without-signature-non-compete-ken-griffin/84496316007/