ConsultStu

Florida CHOICE Act Makes Non-Competes Longer and Enforcement Easier

The Florida legislature recently passed the “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act.” For high earning, salaried employees, the CHOICE Act makes it much easier for their employers to enforce non-compete agreements in Florida and allows for longer non-compete time-periods. It is designed to foster economic growth, protect business interests, and enhance Florida’s investment climate by strengthening protections for covered employers. Governor DeSantis allowed the Act to become law without his signature, and the new law took effect on July 1, 2025. Read more.

Here is a summary of what the CHOICE Act includes:

Covered Employees: It covers Florida based employees (those primarily employed in Florida) and employees of Florida based companies with Agreements that are governed by Florida law (choice of law provision). Covered employees are high earning, salaried employees. Twice the annual mean wage of the county in this state in which the covered employer has its principal place of business. The definition includes, and excludes, certain employee benefits and extra compensation.
Exclusion: It excludes health care practitioners (they remain covered by existing non-compete law).
Requirements: The agreement must advise the employee to seek legal counsel. The employee must acknowledge in writing that the employee will receive confidential information or customer relationships during their employment. Lastly, the employer must provide at least 7 days’ notice of the non-compete before an offer of employment expires or 7 days’ notice before the date that an offer to enter into a “covered non-compete agreement” expires (7 days to review it and seek counsel).
Enforcement: Courts are required to preliminarily enjoin a covered employee from providing competing services to any business, entity, or individual during the non-compete period. Employees will have a higher burden of proof in order to dissolve or modify the injunction. The CHOICE Act will also enjoin the new business or individual employing the employee subject to a non-compete agreement. Businesses that are not parties to the non-compete agreement can still be subject to lawsuits and injunctions.
Length of time: The CHOICE Act permits non-compete agreements up to four years in length (longer than the 2 years length in the existing Florida statute).
Next Steps: CHOICE Act (to use these new provisions) employers will need to review and update their existing non-compete agreements to comply with the CHOICE Act requirements. Otherwise, the existing non-compete statute (542.335) remains available for employers seeking to enforce restrictive covenants.

The CHOICE Act is now in effect. Employers will want to review their current non-compete agreement and consider making the changes required by the Act, if they want to take advantage of the expanded restrictions and easier enforcement provisions. Read more.

HR Categories

1095C form 300 Log 401(k)8(a)(1)Accommodation Affordable Care Act Americans with Disabilities Act Arbitration ARPA Audits Background screening Bilingual Bonuses Business Expenses Cannabidiol (CBD)CDC CDL CFPB charity Child labor CHIP Notice Christmas party Clearinghouse COBRA Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Company Culture Company Property Compensation Compliance Concerted Activity CONNECT Construction consultstu Consultstu Team Contagious disease Coronavirus Craft Beer DEI Department of Labor Direct Threat Disabilities Discrimination DOT Downsizing and Restructuring Dress Code Drivers Drug and Alcohol Drug Free Workplace E-Verify EEO-1 Form EEOC Employee benefits Employee Handbook Employee Illness Employee Injury Employee Misconduct Employee Policies Employee Recognition Employee Referral Employee Rights Employment Poster ERISA Essential functions Executive Order Exempt Employee Exit Interview Fair Credit Reporting Act Fair Labor Standards Act Fall Protection Federal Contractors FFCRA Financial Well-being Firearm Fitness for Duty Florida rules Fluency FMCSA FMLA Form 5500 Form W-4 Fractional HR FTC Gender Non-conformity General HR Questions Goal Setting GPS Group Health Insurance Harassment Hiring Holidays HR Compliance HR Costs HR Resources HR software HR templates HSA Human Resources Human Trafficking I9 Form Immigration Independent Contractor Individualized Assessment Injury Statistics Insurance Interviews Investigations IRS ITA Job Description Job Post Joint Employer K1 Leave of Absence Leaving a PEO Management Manager Medical Exams Medical Marijuana mental health Military Appreciation Minimum Wage Morale National Origin New Hire NLRB No-match letter Non-complete Agreements Onboarding Opioids OPT OSHA Outplacement Overtime Paid Leave Pay Cards Pay or Play Paycheck Protection Program Payroll Payroll Protection Program Performance Improvement Plan Performance Review Personnel File Post offer medical questionnaire Posters Pregnancy Promotion Publix Immigration Certification Reasonable Accomodation Recall Letter Record Keeping Recruiting Religion Remote employees Restaurants Resume Retaliation Retention Retirement Rewards Risk Management Safety Salaried employees SBA Section 7 Rights Self Appraisal Sick Leave SMART goals Social Media Social Security card Start up Taxes Temporary Employee Termination Tipped Employees Title VII TPD Benefits Training Unemployment Uniforms USCIS Vaccines Volunteer W2 W4 Wage and Hour Wellness program Work from Home Workers Compensation Workplace Monitoring Workplace Violence Wrap Plans

Show All Categories

Show Less Categories