Georgia non-compete law: O.C.G.A. 13-8-50 for recruiters

Georgia enforces reasonable non-competes under its Restrictive Covenants Act, Official Code of Georgia sections 13-8-50 to 13-8-59. The key limit for recruiters is who can be bound: a post-employment non-compete can only be enforced against employees who sell or solicit customers, managers who direct at least two employees and have hiring or firing authority or influence, key employees, and professionals. For a former employee, a restraint of two years or less is presumed reasonable and more than two years presumed unreasonable, and a court may modify an overbroad covenant instead of striking it. Customer non-solicits need no geographic area but reach only customers the employee had material contact with. That is the law as of October 2026.

General screening questions are in non-compete questions for candidates, and the agency and client clauses are in non-solicitation clauses for recruiters. This page covers what is different in Georgia.

What does Georgia's Restrictive Covenants Act say?

The Act opens with a finding, in section 13-8-50, that reasonable restrictive covenants in employment and commercial contracts "serve the legitimate purpose of protecting legitimate business interests." Under section 13-8-52 it applies to contracts between employers and employees, distributors and manufacturers, lessors and lessees, partnerships and partners, franchisors and franchisees, sellers and purchasers of a business, and "two or more employers."

Section 13-8-53(a) permits restrictions on competition during the relationship if they are reasonable in time, geographic area and scope of prohibited activities. After employment ends, it allows a non-compete only against an employee who, in the course of the job:

1. customarily and regularly solicits customers or prospective customers for the employer;
2. customarily and regularly makes sales or obtains orders or contracts for products or services to be performed by others;
3. has a primary duty of managing the enterprise or a recognized department or subdivision, customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more employees, and can hire or fire or has particular weight given to their recommendations on hiring, firing and promotion; or
4. performs the duties of a key employee or a professional.

Section 13-8-51 defines "key employee" broadly: someone who, through the employer's investment, has gained a high level of reputation as the employer's representative, a high level of influence with its customers or vendors, or is intimately involved in planning or directing the business or a unit of it, and also someone with specialized skills, customer contacts or customer information gained by working there. "Professional" means work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning, or invention, imagination or talent in an artistic field, and excludes technician work.

Which Georgia restrictions apply to every employee?

Two kinds are not limited to the four groups above:

• Customer non-solicits. Under section 13-8-53(b), an employee may agree in writing not to solicit, for a stated period, business from the employer's customers, including actively sought prospective customers, "with whom the employee had material contact," for competitive products or services. No geographic area is required, and the clause is "narrowly construed" to those customers and products.
• Confidentiality. Under section 13-8-53(e), nothing in the Act limits how long information must be kept confidential, or where, while it remains confidential or a trade secret.

"Material contact" in section 13-8-51(10) means customers the employee dealt with for the employer, whose dealings the employee coordinated or supervised, about whom the employee obtained confidential information, or whose purchases earned the employee commissions or earnings within two years before the employee left.

How long, and how wide, can a Georgia covenant be?

What happens if a Georgia covenant goes too far?

A covenant that does not comply with the Act "is unlawful and is void and unenforceable," but section 13-8-53(d) lets a court modify it "so long as the modification does not render the covenant more restrictive with regard to the employee than as originally drafted." Section 13-8-54 tells courts to construe covenants to match the parties' reasonable intent and, where a restraint does not comply, to "modify the restraint provision and grant only the relief reasonably necessary." Section 13-8-51 defines modification to include severing the offending part and enforcing the rest to the extent it is reasonable.

On proof, section 13-8-55 requires the employer to plead and prove a legitimate business interest; once it makes a prima facie showing that the covenant complies, the person opposing enforcement must show it does not or is unreasonable. Unlike Florida, Georgia lets the court consider the employee's side: under section 13-8-58(d), a court "may consider the economic hardship imposed upon an employee by enforcement." Section 13-8-58 also says a court shall not refuse enforcement because the person seeking it is a third-party beneficiary, assignee or successor, and shall enforce a covenant by any appropriate remedy, including temporary and permanent injunctions.

What should a recruiter ask a Georgia candidate?

Because Georgia's rules turn on the candidate's duties, add questions about the job they did, not only the paperwork. Ask the same questions of every candidate for the role and record facts only.

GEORGIA CANDIDATE — restrictive agreements

1. "Have you signed a non-compete, a customer non-solicit, an employee
    non-solicit, or a confidentiality agreement?"
2. "How long does it last after you leave, and what territory or
    customers does it describe?"
3. "In your current role, do you sell or bring in customers, or manage
    a team of two or more with a say in hiring?"
4. "Which customers did you deal with directly, in general terms?
    No names or details we shouldn't have."
5. "When did you sign it, and does it name which state's law applies?"
6. "Has your employer said anything about enforcing it?"
Always: "We don't want any confidential information, documents or
client lists from your current employer."

• Do not decide that the candidate "isn't a key employee." The definition is broad and fact-heavy; give the facts to the hiring company's counsel.
• Do not ask for customer names. A general description ("mid-market manufacturers in metro Atlanta") is enough to judge overlap with the client's book.
• Expect a customer non-solicit to matter even where a non-compete would not; it can reach any employee.

What is the risk to the hiring company?

Because Georgia courts may modify rather than strike an overbroad covenant, and must enforce valid ones with remedies that include injunctions, a candidate with a sales or management role and a two-year covenant is a real scheduling and territory risk. The most common practical outcome to plan for is a restriction on calling certain customers. Former employers also sometimes bring claims against the new employer, for example that it interfered with the contract or received confidential information; that turns on what the new employer knew and did, and is for its counsel. Tell the client early and let counsel see the agreement before the offer; confirm the "no confidential information" point on the offer call.

Does Georgia treat physicians differently, and is anything pending?

Not by statute as of October 2026. In the 2025–2026 session, House Resolution 592 proposed a House Study Committee on Noncompete Clauses in Physician Contracts, and its text states that "Georgia law does not prohibit restrictive covenants in physician contracts," although courts review their duration, territory and scope. A study committee can recommend legislation; it does not change the law. Healthcare recruiters should handle physician covenants like any other Georgia covenant and flag them to counsel.

At the federal level, nothing overrides Georgia law. The FTC voted on September 5, 2025 to accede to the vacatur of its 2024 rule, and a February 12, 2026 Federal Register notice removed it from the Code of Federal Regulations.

What does this mean for staffing agencies?

Three points. First, agency recruiters and account managers usually "customarily and regularly solicit customers," so a reasonable post-employment non-compete in your own recruiter agreements can be enforceable in Georgia, and the employee definition in section 13-8-51 reaches independent contractors with confidential information or customer contacts. Second, section 13-8-52 brings contracts between "two or more employers" within the Act, so a client–agency no-hire clause may be judged under the same article; separately, section 13-8-59 says nothing in it makes enforceable a restraint that is illegal under federal law, which is where antitrust limits on no-poach agreements come in. Third, licensing and hiring basics are in the Georgia staffing agency license guide and hiring employees in Georgia. For the neighboring state's very different rules, see Florida non-compete law.

A Georgia checklist

• Restrictive-agreement question asked of every candidate, in the same words.
• Duties recorded: sales or solicitation, management of two or more with hiring influence, key or professional role.
• Covenant facts recorded: length, territory wording, customer scope, signing date, governing law.
• Customer non-solicit treated as a live issue for any role.
• No opinion on enforceability; candidate pointed to their own lawyer.
• Client and counsel informed before the offer; "no confidential information" repeated in writing.