Reasonableness test
Florida Non-Compete Law (2026): Strongest enforcement nationwide
Nowhere in the country is a noncompete easier to enforce than in Florida. Since July 2025 the CHOICE Act has let employers lock high earners into four-year garden leave or four-year noncompetes and has made a preliminary injunction the default outcome, with the departing worker carrying a clear-and-convincing burden to dissolve it. Everyone the Act does not reach still falls under s. 542.335, which presumes that breaching a valid covenant causes the employer irreparable harm.
The rule
How Florida treats non-compete agreements
The CHOICE Act layers on top of s. 542.335 rather than replacing it, so an agreement that misses the salary trigger or skips the seven-day notice simply drops back to the older statute instead of failing outright. Its untested weak spot is geography: a Florida choice-of-law clause aimed at someone working in California, Washington, Minnesota or Oklahoma will collide with anti-enforcement statutes there, and no court has yet said whose law wins.
If you are an employer
Florida hands you the strongest toolkit in the country, but the four-year CHOICE Act terms come with real strings - a seven-day review window, a written advisory about counsel, a signed acknowledgment, and continued full pay through any garden leave period.
If you are a worker
Assume a Florida covenant will hold up, and know that the burden at the injunction stage sits on you rather than your former employer, so negotiate scope and duration before you sign instead of after you leave.
| Classification | Enforcement-friendly statutory regime; CHOICE Act expansion |
|---|---|
| Pay threshold | No floor that protects workers. The CHOICE Act runs the other direction: its enhanced enforcement tools reach only 'covered employees' paid more than twice the annual mean wage of the Florida county where the employer is headquartered (or where the worker resides, if the employer sits outside Florida) - practically somewhere around $110,000 to $150,000. Everyone below that line is still bound by ordinary s. 542.335 covenants. |
| Maximum term | Four years for both covered garden leave and covered noncompetes under the CHOICE Act (the noncompete shrinks day-for-day by any non-working portion of the garden leave notice period). Outside the CHOICE Act, s. 542.335(1)(d) presumes a former-employee restraint of six months or less reasonable and one longer than two years unreasonable; three/seven years for sale-of-business restraints and five/ten years for trade-secret-based restraints. |
| Notice or consideration | Nothing general under s. 542.335. The CHOICE Act, by contrast, conditions its protections on procedure: the worker must get at least seven days to review the agreement, written notice of the right to consult a lawyer, and must sign a written acknowledgment that the job will expose them to confidential information or client goodwill. A covered employer wanting to cut a garden leave notice period short owes 30 days' advance written notice. |
| Primary statute | Fla. Stat. s. 542.335 (general restrictive covenants); Fla. Stat. ss. 542.41-542.45 (Florida CHOICE Act); Fla. Stat. s. 542.336 (physicians) |
Detail
What has changed, and what is still moving
Legislation 2024–2026
The Florida CHOICE Act (CS/CS/CS/HB 1219, ch. 2025-213) became law without the Governor's signature and took effect in July 2025, adding Part II to Chapter 542 at ss. 542.41-542.45. It creates two new instruments - the covered garden leave agreement and the covered noncompete agreement - each capable of running four years, and it directs courts to enter a preliminary injunction on a showing of breach, leaving the worker to unwind it by clear and convincing evidence. Nothing enacted in 2024 or 2026 changed the picture.
Bills to watch
No significant restrictive bills pending. Florida's legislature has moved consistently toward broader enforcement, and no 2026 measure would pull that back.
Leading cases
No published Florida appellate decision had construed ss. 542.41-542.45 as of August 2026, so the CHOICE Act's outer limits remain untested. Practice under s. 542.335 still supplies the working precedent, including the statutory presumption of irreparable injury in s. 542.335(1)(j) and cases such as AmeriGas Propane, Inc. v. Sanchez, 335 So. 3d 1268 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019).
If you have one in hand
What can make a non-compete unenforceable in Florida
- The scope is wider than the interest behind it. A restriction that reaches beyond the customers, trade secrets or goodwill the employer can actually point to is the most common reason a covenant fails in Florida.
Whether any of these applies turns on the wording of your own agreement, your role and the case law your court follows. This page maps the statutory landscape; it does not replace advice on a specific contract.
FAQ
Florida non-compete questions
Are non-compete agreements enforceable in Florida?
Nowhere in the country is a noncompete easier to enforce than in Florida. Since July 2025 the CHOICE Act has let employers lock high earners into four-year garden leave or four-year noncompetes and has made a preliminary injunction the default outcome, with the departing worker carrying a clear-and-convincing burden to dissolve it. Everyone the Act does not reach still falls under s. 542.335, which presumes that breaching a valid covenant causes the employer irreparable harm.
How long can a non-compete last in Florida?
Four years for both covered garden leave and covered noncompetes under the CHOICE Act (the noncompete shrinks day-for-day by any non-working portion of the garden leave notice period). Outside the CHOICE Act, s. 542.335(1)(d) presumes a former-employee restraint of six months or less reasonable and one longer than two years unreasonable; three/seven years for sale-of-business restraints and five/ten years for trade-secret-based restraints.
Is there a minimum salary for non-competes in Florida?
No. Florida sets no income floor, so pay alone does not decide whether a covenant binds you. The test is whether the restriction goes further than the employer's legitimate interest requires in time, geography and scope of work.
What notice or consideration does Florida require?
Nothing general under s. 542.335. The CHOICE Act, by contrast, conditions its protections on procedure: the worker must get at least seven days to review the agreement, written notice of the right to consult a lawyer, and must sign a written acknowledgment that the job will expose them to confidential information or client goodwill. A covered employer wanting to cut a garden leave notice period short owes 30 days' advance written notice.
Sources
How this entry was checked
- Primary source. Fla. Stat. s. 542.335 (general restrictive covenants); Fla. Stat. ss. 542.41-542.45 (Florida CHOICE Act); Fla. Stat. s. 542.336 (physicians) — the statutory text itself.
- Secondary sources consulted. Fla. Stat. ch. 542, Florida Senate bill records (HB 1219 / SB 922), Jackson Lewis, Morrison Foerster, Nelson Mullins, Akerman, Katz Banks Kumin 50-state update (Mar. 2026).
Check it against a third party
None of these is ours. If a figure here matters to a decision, verify it:
- Federal Trade Commission — non-compete hub
- Economic Innovation Group — State Noncompete Law Tracker
- Fair Competition Law (Beck Reed Riden) — 50-state legislation tracker
- GAO-23-103785 — Noncompete Agreements (May 2023)
This page is general legal information published by Jurizmo and is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and may not reflect amendments enacted after the review date above. Consult a licensed attorney in the relevant state before acting on any agreement.