Missouri non-compete law: RSMo 431.202 and the common-law test

Missouri enforces reasonable non-competes under case law, not a general statute. Courts ask whether the covenant protects a legitimate interest, chiefly trade secrets or customer contacts, and whether it is reasonable in time and area; when it goes too far, the Missouri Supreme Court has modified it and enforced the narrower version. The one statute, RSMo 431.202, covers covenants not to solicit or hire employees and makes a one-year employee non-solicit presumptively reasonable. As of October 2026, Missouri has no salary threshold and no health care carve-out, and the 2026 bills that would have restricted physician non-competes did not pass.

For recruiters, Missouri is a state where a candidate's agreement usually matters, often in a narrowed form, and where the no-recruiting clause can matter as much as the non-compete. The general screening questions are in non-compete questions for candidates, and the four kinds of non-solicit agencies meet are in non-solicitation clauses for recruiters.

What does Missouri law say about non-competes?

There is no Missouri statute that sets out when an employee non-compete is valid. The test comes from the courts. In Whelan Security Co. v. Kennebrew (Mo. 2012), the Missouri Supreme Court reviewed a security company's covenants with former managers and treated them as enforceable only to the extent they protected the employer's legitimate interests, which Missouri cases describe as trade secrets and customer contacts, and only if reasonable in time and geography. Ordinary competition, or the employee's general skill, is not an interest the employer can fence off.

Three practical points follow from Missouri's case law:

• Customer contact is the usual hook. A salesperson, account manager or recruiter who dealt with the employer's clients is the classic case where a Missouri court finds a protectable interest.
• Overbroad clauses may be narrowed. In Whelan, the Court found the customer restriction too broad as written, struck the ban on soliciting prospective customers, limited the existing-customer restriction to customers the employees had actually dealt with, and sent the case back. That is modification, not automatic voiding.
• No pay floor or notice rule. Unlike Illinois or Colorado, Missouri does not tie validity to earnings or to handing the covenant over before acceptance.

What does RSMo 431.202 add?

RSMo 431.202, effective July 1, 2001, is about covenants "not to solicit, recruit, hire or otherwise interfere with the employment of" employees. It says a reasonable written covenant of that kind is enforceable and not a restraint of trade under section 416.031 in four situations, two of which are between an employer and its employees:

• Subdivision (3): to protect confidential or trade secret business information, or customer or supplier relationships, goodwill or loyalty.
• Subdivision (4): even without those interests, if the covenant lasts no more than one year after employment, except for covenants signed by employees who provide only secretarial or clerical services.

Subsection 2 makes a covenant covered only by subdivisions (3) or (4) "conclusively presumed to be reasonable" if its post-employment duration is no more than one year. Subsection 3 says those subdivisions do not create or affect "employer-employee covenants not to compete." Subsection 5 says nothing in the section limits an employee's ability to seek or accept a job with another employer, and subsection 6 gives the section retrospective as well as prospective effect.

For agencies this is the part of Missouri law that bites hardest. A candidate who moves to a client as a manager and wants to bring over three former colleagues may be bound by a one-year no-recruit clause that a court will presume reasonable. The client's counsel should see that clause before anyone builds a hiring plan on it.

What about physicians and other health care workers?

Missouri has no statute limiting physician or nurse non-competes. They are judged under the same common-law test, and Missouri courts do enforce them: in Jefferson City Medical Group, P.C. v. Brummett (Mo. Ct. App. W.D. 2024), the Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment enforcing a radiologist's non-compete against him.

Bills to change that were filed in the 2026 session and stalled. The Missouri House site shows:

Neither bill was sent to the Senate, so neither became law. Healthcare recruiters placing Missouri physicians should assume the covenant may be enforced and get the agreement to the client's counsel early, especially the radius, the duration and any buyout clause.

Missouri non-compete rules at a glance

What should a recruiter ask a Missouri candidate?

Ask early, in the phone screen, and in the same words for every candidate. In Missouri, ask about the no-recruiting clause as carefully as the non-compete.

MISSOURI CANDIDATE — restrictive agreements

1. "Have you signed a non-compete, a customer non-solicit, an agreement
    not to recruit or hire coworkers, or a confidentiality agreement?"
2. "How long does each last after you leave, and what area or
    customers does it cover?"
3. "Which customers did you personally deal with?"
4. "Does any of it stop you from contacting former colleagues about
    jobs, and for how long?"
5. Health care roles: "Does your contract include a radius, a
    duration or a buyout amount?"
6. "Does it say which state's law applies or where disputes go?"
Always: "We don't want any confidential information, documents or
client lists from your current employer."

• Do not tell a candidate a non-compete "won't hold up in Missouri." Courts narrow and enforce.
• Do not ask the candidate to list former coworkers they could bring with them until the client's counsel has seen any no-recruit clause.
• Do record "one-year no-recruit, two-year 50-mile non-compete, signed 2023" rather than an opinion.

What is the risk to the hiring company?

The likely outcome of a Missouri dispute is an injunction, sometimes against a narrowed covenant, that keeps the new hire away from certain customers or territory, or stops them recruiting former coworkers, for the restricted period. Former employers sometimes name the new employer too, for example claiming it interfered with the contract or received confidential information. How that plays out depends on what the new employer knew and did, which is for its counsel.

Lower the risk by telling the client about every covenant before final interviews, letting its counsel review the agreement before the offer, keeping the new hire away from restricted customers and staff in the first months where possible, and confirming at the offer that the company wants no confidential information. The offer call script covers that conversation.

Is Missouri likely to change its non-compete law?

Not before 2027. The 2026 physician bills ended without floor votes, and RSMo 431.202 has not been amended since 2001 according to the Revisor's history line. Any new bill would have to be filed and passed in a later session. Re-check the House bill pages and the Revisor's section before relying on this summary next year.

Where does the federal FTC rule stand?

It does not apply. The FTC's Noncompete Rule page notes the August 20, 2024 court order setting it aside; on September 5, 2025 the Commission voted 3-1 to accede to the vacatur; and a February 12, 2026 Federal Register notice removed it from the Code of Federal Regulations. Missouri covenants are governed by Missouri law.

Staffing agencies and their own agreements

Section 431.202 applies to your agency as an employer when your own recruiters sign no-recruit clauses, and the common-law test applies to their non-competes and client non-solicits. Client-side no-hire terms between businesses raise separate antitrust questions; see no-poach agreements and antitrust law. For the other Missouri rules, see hiring employees in Missouri, the Missouri staffing agency license guide and Missouri ban-the-box rules.

A Missouri checklist

• Non-compete, customer non-solicit and no-recruit clauses asked about separately, in the same words for every candidate.
• Facts recorded: type, length, area or customers, date signed, governing-law clause.
• No-recruit clauses flagged before the client plans team hires.
• Physician roles: radius, duration and buyout captured; agreement to counsel early.
• No opinion on enforceability given; candidate pointed to their own lawyer.
• "No confidential information" said at the screen and at the offer.