Easier Enforceability of Non-Compete Agreements: Florida’s Choice Act

On July 3, 2025, the Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (“CHOICE”) Act became law. It is anticipated that for businesses with highly compensated employees, this will change the landscape of non-compete and garden leave agreements. To qualify as a highly compensated individual, the employee’s salary must be twice the annual mean wage of the county in Florida where the employer is or, if the employer is not in Florida, the county where the employee resides.

For qualifying non-compete agreements the CHOICE Act extends the permissible length of non-compete restrictions to up to four (4) years and makes it easier for employers to obtain preliminary injunctions against both employees and subsequent employers. Florida’s existing statute governing non-compete agreements and other restrictive covenant agreements (which are not covered by the CHOICE Act) remains in effect and still protects businesses with non-compete agreements that do not fall under the purview of the CHOICE Act.

For non-compete agreements to fall within the CHOICE Act, the following requirements must be met: the employee must be advised in writing of the right to seek counsel; the employee must acknowledge in writing that the employee will receive confidential information or customer relationships; and the employer must give the employee 7 days’ notice. If these requirements are met, Florida courts are to issue a preliminary injunction without the employer having to establish the burdens applied in cases under the existing statute. Courts may only modify or dissolve the injunction if the employee or subsequent employer can prove, generally, they are not competing with the employer during the restricted period.

In light of this new law, businesses should evaluate whether the CHOICE Act applies to any of their highly compensated employees and determine whether to execute non-compete agreements that comply with the requirements of the Act.

This is a two-part blog series relating to the CHOICE Act. This blog post discusses non-compete agreements and the next post will discuss garden leave agreements.