Everyone knows that noncompete agreements are generally unenforceable in California and there’s not much more to be said, right? California lawmakers think differently and thus have taken steps to equip employees with new ways to challenge them. On September 1, Governor Newsom signed a bill into law that prohibits employers from entering into noncompetes with California employees that are void under state law, and also prohibits employers from attempting to enforce such noncompetes against California employees – regardless of whether the employee executed the agreement in another state or worked in another state when executing the agreement. Separately, the governor signed another bill on October 13 that will implement a new burdensome notice requirement for employers, requiring them to notify current and former employees about unlawful noncompete covenants in their employment agreements. Here are four things you should know about these new noncompete laws in California.
1. What Conduct Does SB 699 Prohibit and How Can Employers Violate the New Law?
California has a long history of disfavoring noncompetes. Under California Business and Professions Code section 16600, every contractual covenant that restrains anyone from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind is void, except under limited statutory exceptions. Those narrow exceptions include the sale of a business, the dissolution of a partnership, or upon the dissolution or termination of interests...
By Ivan Kesic A drone strike on an electrical generator just outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates on May 17, 2026, suddenly brought the Persia...