Hi - is my noncompete enforceable? I live in California

Hello! Thank you so much for coming to contractscounsel.com. My name is Dolan, and I am happy to help. The short answer? No, you would not be in violation of the law. That’s the short answer. Here is the long answer:

In California, non-compete agreements are generally unenforceable. According to California Business and Professions Code Section 16600, any contract that restrains someone from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business is void. This means that, in most cases, employers cannot legally prevent employees from working for competitors or starting their own businesses in the same field. There are some exceptions, but this is typically when the parties are entering Recent legislative developments have reinforced this stance. Senate Bill 699 prohibits employers from entering into or attempting to enforce non-compete agreements, regardless of where the contract was signed or where the employment occurred. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB699. This law allows employees to take legal action against employers who try to enforce such agreements, potentially recovering damages and attorney's fees. Additionally, AB 1076 required employers to notify current and former employees by February 14, 2024, that any non-compete agreements they may have signed are void. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1076. Given these legal protections, you should be able to accept the new position without violating enforceable contract terms. We can always review the contract terms on contractscounsel.com. You can hire me directly for this as I am an expert in employment agreements. Please let me know if this has answered your question fully. I hope this information is helpful to you. If you need additional assistance or have follow-up questions, please reply to my message below, and I will respond as soon as I can. Thanks so much! Dolan

Hi ******! You are welcome to send your entire agreement. We can review this for $***, or I can just review the non-compete section without any additional charge in this case. Also, yes, if you took this job, and the old employer tries to take legal action, you can ask the court to essentially dismiss the claim on the grounds that state law prohibits the non-compete and even countersue if they did not follow the rules of AB 1076! So it is possible you may need to pay, but by the time they get legal advice, you'll never hear from them again! In my experience, it's often best to not tell the new employer about your non-compete and to avoid engaging the old employer about the non-compete. 99 times out of 100, their lawyers will advise them to back off. I want to make sure ALL of your concerns were addressed. Did you have any concerns about this that still need to be addressed? I'm happy to help.