What Makes a Non-Compete Agreement Enforceable Under the CHOICE Act?

The Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act is now in effect in Florida, and it provides greater protections for employers when it comes to creating and enforcing non-compete agreements and garden leave agreements with certain employees in Florida. The law says that four-year non-competes are reasonable, essentially doubling the amount of time that an employer can restrict a former employee’s work elsewhere. The law will not apply retroactively, so it will not apply to existing employment contracts or clauses within them. It can, however, apply to any employment contracts going forward that include non-compete agreements or garden leave agreements.

What makes a non-compete agreement enforceable under the CHOICE Act? This is an important question for employees to know the answer. There are two general sets of requirements: first, the employee must be a “covered” employee under the CHOICE Act, and then, second, certain procedural requirements must have been met. Consider the following information from our Palm Beach Gardens employment law attorneys.

Employee Must Be “Covered”

In order for the terms of the CHOICE Act to apply — that is, in order for an employer to be able to enforce the terms of a non-compete or garden leave agreement made possible by this law — the employee whose future employment is restricted must be a “covered” employee.

Under the language of the Act, “a covered employee is an employee or an individual contractor who earns or is reasonably expected to earn a salary greater than twice the annual mean wage of the county in Florida in which the employer has its principal place of business, or the country in Florida in which the employee resides if the employer is not principally based in this state.”

Procedural Requirements Must Be Met 

If an employee is “covered” as the term is defined above, then in order for a non-compete or garden leave agreement under the CHOICE Act to be enforceable, the following procedural requirements must also be met:

• Employee must be advised in writing of their right to seek legal counsel;
• Employee must acknowledge in writing that they understand they will receive confidential information or customer relationships;
• Employee must be given seven days to consider the terms of the agreement before signing, in some circumstances; and
• Non-compete period is reduced “day for day” by any non-working portion of the employee’s covered garden leave agreement.

Contact a Palm Beach Gardens Non-Compete and Contract Lawyer Today

The Florida CHOICE Act has made it possible for employers to further curtail the ability of former employees to do similar work in similar areas. In other words, the new law makes it more difficult for many employees who become bound by the terms of non-compete and garden leave agreements under the CHOICE Act to change jobs while continuing to work in the same area and field. At Sconzo Law Office, we are here to review any non-compete agreements or garden leave agreements that your employer wants you to sign, and we are also able to help you when it comes to concerns about enforcement of these agreements. One of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens non-compete and contract law attorneys at Sconzo Law Office can answer any questions you have today and discuss your options concerning the terms of your employment contract.

Source:

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