Florida non-compete law: section 542.335 and the CHOICE Act for recruiters

Florida is one of the most employer-friendly non-compete states, and since July 1, 2025 it has two sets of rules. The long-standing one, Florida Statutes section 542.335, enforces restrictive covenants that are in a signed writing and reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate business interest, presumes a restraint on a former employee of six months or less reasonable and more than two years unreasonable, and requires courts to narrow rather than reject an overbroad clause. The newer one, the CHOICE Act (sections 542.41 to 542.45), allows non-competes and garden leave of up to four years for higher earners, and tells courts to enjoin not only the employee but also the business that hires them. That is the law as of October 2026.

For recruiters this second rule changes the risk. A Florida covenant under the CHOICE Act is a problem for the hiring company directly, not only for the candidate. General screening questions are in non-compete questions for candidates; agency-side clauses are in non-solicitation clauses for recruiters.

What does section 542.335 require?

Section 542.335 says enforcement of contracts that restrict competition during or after the term of a restrictive covenant "is not prohibited" so long as they are "reasonable in time, area, and line of business." The rest of the section tilts the field toward enforcement:

• Signed writing. A court shall not enforce a restrictive covenant unless it is in a writing signed by the person it is enforced against.
• Legitimate business interest. The employer must plead and prove one, such as trade secrets, valuable confidential information, substantial relationships with specific prospective or existing customers, customer goodwill tied to a trade name, location or trade area, or extraordinary or specialized training. A covenant without one is "void and unenforceable."
• Reasonably necessary. The employer must also show the restraint is reasonably necessary; if it is overbroad or overlong, "a court shall modify the restraint and grant only the relief reasonably necessary."
• Time presumptions. Against a former employee, six months or less is presumed reasonable and more than two years presumed unreasonable. Where the covenant protects trade secrets, five years or less is presumed reasonable and more than ten unreasonable.
• No hardship defense. A court "shall not consider any individualized economic or other hardship" to the employee, and may not construe the covenant narrowly or against the drafter.
• Injunctions. Violating an enforceable covenant creates a presumption of irreparable injury, and a temporary injunction requires a bond.
• Third parties. A court may not refuse enforcement because the party seeking it is a third-party beneficiary, if the covenant expressly names it as one, or an assignee or successor, if the covenant expressly allows that.

The section applies to covenants entered into on or after July 1, 1996. Older agreements are rare now, but the signing date is still worth recording.

What did the CHOICE Act add in 2025?

CS/CS/CS/HB 1219 became chapter 2025-213, Laws of Florida, without the Governor's signature, effective July 1, 2025. It created the Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act. Its two agreements are defined in section 542.43:

A "covered employee" is an employee or individual contractor who earns, or is reasonably expected to earn, a salary greater than twice the annual mean wage of the Florida county where the employer has its principal place of business, or of the county where the employee lives if the employer's principal place of business is outside Florida. "Salary" is base pay and excludes discretionary bonuses, commissions and tips. The definition excludes health care practitioners as defined in section 456.001. The annual mean wage comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, so the dollar threshold differs by county; counsel should check the figure for the right county and date.

The Act reaches beyond Florida-law contracts. Under section 542.45(1), it applies to a covered noncompete with an employee whose primary place of work is in Florida "regardless of any applicable choice of law provisions," and to one with an employer whose principal place of business is in Florida if the agreement is expressly governed by Florida law.

What is the risk to the new employer?

This is the part of Florida law a recruiter cannot treat as the candidate's problem alone. Section 542.45(5) says that, on the former employer's application, a court "must preliminarily enjoin" the covered employee from working for anyone else during the noncompete period, and "must preliminarily enjoin a business, an entity, or an individual from engaging a covered employee" during that period. Section 542.44(5) does the same for garden leave.

The hiring business can get its injunction modified or dissolved only by showing, by clear and convincing evidence based on non-confidential information, that the employee will not provide similar services or use the former employer's confidential information or customer relationships, or that the hiring business is not engaged in, planning or preparing to engage in similar business in the covered area. A court must presume the employee had access to confidential information if they acknowledged it in writing, which the Act requires for the covenant to be enforceable in the first place. The prevailing party recovers attorney fees.

Covenants that do not meet the CHOICE Act's definitions still fall under section 542.335, which allows an injunction against the former employee and presumes irreparable injury. Former employers also sometimes bring separate claims against the new employer, for example that it interfered with the contract; how that turns out depends on what the new employer knew and did.

Are physicians and other health care workers treated differently?

Yes, in two ways. The CHOICE Act does not cover health care practitioners at all, so their covenants are judged under section 542.335. And section 542.336 says a restrictive covenant with a physician licensed under chapter 458 or 459 who practices a specialty in a county where one entity employs or contracts with all physicians in that specialty is not supported by a legitimate business interest; it stays void for three years after a second entity starts offering the specialty there.

Florida non-compete rules at a glance

What should a recruiter ask a Florida candidate?

The CHOICE Act turns on paperwork, so the screening questions do too. Ask everyone for the role the same questions and record facts only.

FLORIDA CANDIDATE — restrictive agreements

1. "Have you signed a non-compete, a non-solicit, a confidentiality
    agreement, or an agreement requiring long notice before you resign?"
2. "How long does it last, and what area or customers does it cover?"
3. "Does it mention garden leave, a notice period, or Florida's
    CHOICE Act or section 542.44 or 542.45?"
4. "Were you told in writing you could talk to a lawyer before signing,
    and did you sign an acknowledgment about confidential information
    or customer relationships?"
5. "When did you sign it, and does it name which state's law applies?"
6. "Is your primary place of work in Florida?"
Always: "We don't want any confidential information, documents or
client lists from your current employer."

• A candidate on garden leave may still be employed, and paid, by the current employer for months or years. Ask for their earliest possible start date in plain terms.
• Do not ask the candidate's pay to test the CHOICE threshold. If the agreement is in play, counsel will work out whether the candidate is a covered employee from the agreement and the employer's records.
• Tell the client before final interviews when a candidate describes a multi-year covenant, a garden leave clause or a written acknowledgment, because the injunction rule reaches the client itself.

Is Florida changing the law again?

As of October 2026, the 2026 Florida Statutes show sections 542.41 to 542.45 with only chapter 2025-213 in their history, and section 542.335 unchanged since 1996, so the 2026 session did not amend them. The FTC's federal rule does not apply either: the Commission voted on September 5, 2025 to accede to the court's vacatur, and a February 12, 2026 Federal Register notice removed it from the Code of Federal Regulations.

What does this mean for staffing agencies?

Section 542.335 also governs an agency's own covenants with its recruiters and contract workers, and the third-party beneficiary rule means a covenant can be written so that a client, if expressly named, may enforce it too. Before signing a client agreement that asks your workers to sign such terms, have counsel review it, and see no-poach agreements and antitrust law for the separate antitrust limits on no-hire clauses between companies. Licensing and hiring basics are in the Florida staffing agency license guide and hiring employees in Florida. For a neighboring state with a different approach, see Georgia non-compete law.

A Florida checklist

• Restrictive-agreement and notice-period questions asked of every candidate, in the same words.
• CHOICE Act markers recorded: length up to four years, garden leave, counsel notice, written acknowledgment.
• Primary place of work and governing-law clause recorded.
• Health care practitioners flagged: CHOICE Act does not apply; section 542.336 may.
• Client told before final interviews; counsel reviews before any offer.
• No opinion on enforceability; "no confidential information" said at the screen and the offer.