Kansas Governor Laura Kelly recently signed a bill into law that deems certain nonsolicitation agreements with business owners and employees to be presumptively enforceable and not a restraint on trade. While generally consistent with existing Kansas case law, the legislation comes as many states are moving to limit or ban the use and enforceability of restrictive covenants in employment and reaffirms Kansas’s status as a relatively employer-friendly jurisdiction for the enforcement of well-tailored restrictive covenant agreements.

Quick Hits

• Kansas recently enacted a law to make certain written agreements not to solicit customers or employees “conclusively presumed” to be enforceable.
• The legislation applies to nonsolicitation agreements between businesses and their owners, which are limited to four years after the end of their business relationship, and agreements with employees, which are limited to two years following employment.
• The legislation will take effect on July 1, 2025.

Kansas Senate Bill (SB) 241, which was signed on April 9, 2025, clarifies guidelines for what constitutes reasonable and enforceable nonsolicitation agreements and noninterference agreements regarding employers’ customers and employees under the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act.

Unlike the trend of scrutinizing restrictive covenants in employment, SB 241 sets forth a more employer-friendly approach, deeming certain types of restrictive covenants in writing to be “conclusively presumed to be...

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