Fla. Bill Aims to Boost Employer Noncompete Power

Litigation attorney Seth Welner was interviewed by Law360 about Florida's Senate Bill (S.B.) 1219, which would allow noncompete agreements for up to four years and shift the burden from employers to employees in court challenges. The Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality and Economic Growth Act (CHOICE Act) would apply to employees who make more than twice the mean income of the county where the company is headquartered or where the employee lives if the company is not based in the state. In addition, it establishes a presumption of enforcement by requiring an automatic preliminary injunction in favor of enforcing the agreement, meaning employees will have to show why the agreement is unreasonable or an injunction is not warranted instead of employers having to justify the provision. Mr. Welner commented that a major question arising from the CHOICE Act is whether businesses will be able to convince skilled workers to sign these agreements, saying "employers are going to have to test markets" to determine how the new framework will affect their hiring operations.

"At some point, if a company can't get qualified programmers to agree, then that employer is going to have a business decision to make as to how do I balance opportunities under the CHOICE Act with actually retaining talent," he said.

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