State legislatures have accelerated efforts to limit restrictive covenants for healthcare professionals, creating a changing and fragmented legal landscape. To understand where we’re headed, we reviewed state legislation around the country enacted over the past two years. Over this period of time, fourteen states have enacted laws limiting the use of restrictive covenants in the
New California and New York Laws Target “Stay-or-Pay” Arrangements
California and New York recently enacted statutory restrictions aimed at “stay-or-pay” arrangements: California AB 692 (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 16608 & Cal. Lab. Code § 926) and the New York Trapped at Work Act (N.Y. Lab. Law art. 37, §§ 1050-1055), respectively. Such arrangements are contractual provisions that, while falling short of a
Forfeiture Clauses Triggered by Non-Solicitation Breaches Do Not Fall Under Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act
Enacted in 2018, the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (the “Act”) restricted employers’ use of non-competition agreements in a variety of ways, including requiring compensation during the post-employment restricted period and prohibiting enforcement against non-exempt employees or those terminated without cause. While the Act explicitly excludes covenants not to solicit from its definition of noncompetition agreements
FTC Signals Forthcoming Non-compete Enforcement Actions
On September 4, 2025, the FTC announced an enforcement action and proposed settlement with Gateway Pet Memorial Services (the “Company”), a pet cremation company, over the Company’s overuse of post-employment non-competes with certain terms it found concerning. At nearly the same time, the FTC withdrew its appeals pending in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits of