Big news for Florida employers and executives: effective July 1, 2025, the CHOICE Act changes how non-compete agreements work across the state. And Florida is not alone! If your U.S. business (any state) relies on these agreements to protect key relationships, clients, or trade secrets — it’s time to pay attention.
What’s Changing?
The Florida CHOICE Act narrows who can be bound by a non-compete. It applies only to “covered employees” — typically higher-paid professionals — and “covered employers.”
To qualify as a covered employee, a person must earn more than twice the annual mean wage in the Florida county where:
your principal place of business is located, or
the employee lives (if your company is based outside of Florida).
What is twice the annual mean wage?
That threshold varies by county but is expected to land between $80,000 and $150,000, based on recent wage data from 2023–2024.
In short: only top-tier salaried employees and 1099 contractors will likely fall under enforceable non-compete agreements once the new law takes effect.
What This Means for Your Florida Business
For employers, this law doesn’t eliminate non-competes — it raises the bar for when they’re enforceable. Companies will need to:
Review current agreements to identify who still qualifies under the new rules
Update hiring and compensation policies to align with the new thresholds
Consider alternative protections (like confidentiality or non-solicitation clauses) for employees who fall below the cutoff
A More Balanced Playing Field!
The CHOICE Act is designed to make non-compete agreements fairer and more transparent, limiting them to roles where they make the most sense — such as leadership, strategy, or sales positions tied to proprietary information. Want to dig deeper into the details? 👉 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Florida’s New Non-Compete Law Shakes Up the Sunshine State
Guess what? Florida is not alone!
Many U.S. states have laws similar to (and in some cases stricter than) the one you mentioned for Florida. Get a list via my downloads page (you will get sent to a Google Drive with a lot of freebies). https://thehrlady.com/downloads/
FYI – The FTC voted in 2024 to ban most non-competes nationwide, but that rule was blocked by federal courts and is not in effect as of today. Reuters
